The woman whose arrest at an Alabama Waffle House raised concerns about police brutality — after the video of her arrest went viral earlier this year — has been found guilty of disorderly conduct and resisting arrest.
Chikesia Clemons, 25, was found guilty of the charges during a late-night trial in Saraland, Alabama, on Monday, per local news reports. She was sentenced to 10 days in prison, which was suspended for one year of informal probation. Clemons was also ordered to pay a $200 fine plus court costs on the resisting arrest charge and a $200 fine for the disorderly conduct charge.
AL.com reported that Saraland Municipal Judge Mark Erwin told the courtroom that Clemons was found guilty "because the facts of the case met the legal definitions required to find a person guilty, and had nothing to do with the high level of emotion that had played out in the weeks and months before."
Clemons was arrested around 2:45 a.m. on April 22 at a Saraland Waffle House.
Per 911 audio provided to the media by the Saraland Police Department, Waffle House employees called the police after Clemons and two friends reportedly brought alcohol into the restaurant. A witness also told police that when the group was asked to leave, the three women became angry and began to use profanity and threaten violence.
One of the women in the group, Canita Adams, began recording on her cellphone when the police arrived. The video shows Clemons in a heated argument with the police, and then cuts to two white male officers pulling the 25-year-old down to the floor in an attempt to arrest her, exposing her breasts in the process.
In the tape, Clemons is heard asking what the officer is doing. "I'm about to break your arm; that's what I'm about to do," one of the officers responds.
The video went viral, sparking national outrage.
Civil rights leaders rallied to support Clemons and began calling for the charges to be dropped.
On June 18, Color of Change, a civil rights coalition group, delivered a petition that had been signed by 50,000 people, urging officials to drop the charges against Clemons.