The Question Is Not What She Did. It Is What Was Done to Her.
An editorial by SDARJ Chair Charlotte King and coauthor Joseph Lawson on the July 7 traffic stop in Dover
By now, many Delawareans have seen the video. On July 7, on a roadside in Dover, a Delaware State Police trooper pulled a 38-year-old mother from her car, threw her to the ground, struck her repeatedly, and used a taser on her. Her four children watched from the back seat.
Let us be clear about what this editorial is not about. It is not about whether the traffic stop was justified, whether her license was suspended, or whether she should have stepped out of the car when ordered. Reasonable people can debate those questions, and the courts will resolve them. That is how our system works.
If you’re having trouble viewing the video, watch it on YouTube.
This editorial is about something that should not be debatable at all: no matter what this woman did or did not do, no citizen deserves the wildly out-of-proportion response she received. The underlying offenses were paperwork violations — no insurance, a suspended license. The trooper himself initially issued citations and let her drive away. Only after he reversed his own decision about towing her car did the encounter escalate into violence. Nothing in that sequence justifies throwing a mother to the pavement, raining blows on her, and tasing her. This is, plainly and clearly, a case of excessive force.
Policing in a free society rests on a covenant: officers are granted extraordinary powers — to stop us, to detain us, and when truly necessary, to use force — and in exchange they pledge to use those powers with restraint, judgment, and equal regard for every person. The officer in this video broke that covenant. He broke the public trust. When the investigation confirms what the video already makes painfully evident, he should be removed from his position. Termination is not vengeance; it is accountability — and it is how a police force protects the honor of the many officers who serve with professionalism and restraint.
And we must not look away from the four children in that back seat. They watched their mother beaten and tased by a man in uniform. Research and simple human experience tell us the same thing: children do not forget such moments. They carry them for life — into every future encounter with authority, every flashing light in the rearview mirror. Whatever else this incident costs Delaware, its heaviest price was paid by four children on East Lebanon Road.
We do want to acknowledge what has gone right. Governor Matt Meyer responded swiftly and seriously — meeting with the Department of Safety and Homeland Security and State Police leadership, reviewing the footage, and committing to work with the community review board and the Delaware NAACP. His words deserve repeating: policing relies on trust, and that trust “is not automatic; it is earned every day through mutual respect, integrity and transparency.” We commend the Governor for treating this incident with the gravity it demands, and we will hold the process to the standard he has set: swift, transparent, and just.
The Southern Delaware Alliance for Racial Justice is a nonpartisan organization. We do not speak against the police; we speak for justice. Delaware showed this year — with the passage of the John Lewis Voting Rights Act — that it can lead the nation in protecting the dignity of its citizens. What happened on that Dover roadside is a test of whether that commitment extends to every traffic stop, every neighborhood, and every mother driving her children home.
We are speaking up because it is right. We will be watching, and we will not be silent.
Charlotte King
Chair, Southern Delaware Alliance for Racial Justice
Joseph Lawson
Executive Director, Southern Delaware Alliance for Racial Justice
Coverage of the incident: Delaware Public Media | WDEL | 6abc | NBC10
