Breaion King Settlement: 2015 Traffic Stop and Policy Changes

The Austin City Council unanimously approved a $425,000 settlement on May 24, 2018, resolving the Breaion King excessive force lawsuit against the city and Austin Police Officer Bryan Richter. The agreement also included a formal apology from the city.¹ King, a 26-year-old elementary school teacher at the time of the incident, had been violently thrown to the ground during a 2015 traffic stop that was captured on dashcam video.

The 2015 Traffic Stop

On June 15, 2015, Officer Richter pulled King over for driving 15 miles per hour over the speed limit near a Wendy’s parking lot in Austin.² Dashcam footage showed Richter ordering her out of the car, yanking her from the vehicle, slamming her to the ground, standing her up, and then throwing her to the pavement a second time before handcuffing her.³ King suffered bruising, swelling, and persistent shoulder pain.

A second officer, Patrick Spradlin, drove King to jail. During the ride, Spradlin told King on dashcam audio that white people feared Black people because of “violent tendencies,” and that “99 percent of the time, when you hear about stuff like that, it is the black community that’s being violent.”² King was charged with misdemeanor resisting arrest. Those charges were dismissed in January 2016. The dashcam videos were not released publicly until July 2016.⁴

How the Lawsuit Reached a Settlement

In August 2016, King filed a federal lawsuit in the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Texas against the City of Austin and Officer Richter.⁵ She alleged excessive force, constitutional violations, deliberate indifference, and inadequate hiring and training. Her legal team said damages would “most probably” exceed $1 million.⁶ King was represented by Austin civil rights attorney Erica Grigg.⁷ The city hired outside attorney Charles Frigerio for Richter, who argued that the officer used a “reasonable amount of force” and that King’s “non-compliance was the sole proximate cause of the incident.”⁸

The case nearly collapsed early. In October 2016, U.S. District Judge Sam Sparks dismissed the claims against the City of Austin, finding that King’s complaint lacked “specific factual allegations” to support an inference that the city maintained an informal policy of racial targeting.⁹ The judge allowed King to refile an amended complaint, and the claims against Richter individually survived.¹⁰ According to Mayor Steve Adler, a federal judge later cited the King incident alongside other cases as evidence that institutional problems within the department warranted a jury’s review.¹¹

What Was in the Settlement

The May 2018 council vote approved $425,000 in payment and a formal apology from the city, a term Council Member Greg Casar highlighted.¹ Interim Police Chief Brian Manley offered to meet with King and her attorney to discuss the incident.¹² Mayor Adler called the payment “a recognition from the city that we can and need to do better,” saying settlements do not “fix things” but acknowledge a failure to meet the city’s standards.¹¹

The $425,000 figure was the largest Austin had paid to resolve a non-lethal use-of-force case. KVUE reported that since 2011 the city had been sued nearly 40 times in similar cases, with the previous highest settlement at $150,000 and total payouts over the prior five years just above $500,000.¹¹

What Happened to the Officers

The settlement resolved King’s civil claims, but it was not the only consequence for the officers involved. Richter was never criminally charged for the King arrest; in November 2016, a Travis County grand jury heard about 13 hours of testimony from eight witnesses and returned a no-bill.⁷ Internal discipline was limited because the department had not learned of the June 2015 incident until a year after it happened, and a disciplinary deadline had already passed. The most Richter could receive was a written reprimand, the lowest form of departmental discipline, which is what he got.¹³ Any specific discipline for Spradlin was never made public.¹⁴

Richter was later fired over a separate incident. On July 26, 2017, while serving a warrant at Barton Creek Square mall, he placed his foot on a suspect’s head during an arrest, and he and another detective failed to properly report the use of force; dashcam footage contradicted Richter’s account.¹⁵ After a January 19, 2018 disciplinary hearing, he was fired.¹³ He initially appealed and then withdrew the appeal. In November 2018, Richter reached a deal with the Travis County District Attorney’s office: he agreed never to work in law enforcement in Travis County for the rest of his life, to pay roughly $900 in restitution, and to testify truthfully about the 2017 arrest, and prosecutors agreed not to pursue criminal charges.¹⁶

Policy Changes and the Documentary

The King case prompted the Austin Police Department to update its use-of-force rules with a new emphasis on de-escalation and alternatives to force.¹⁷ Council Member Casar said the city had “partnered with the community to improve the city’s de-escalation and use of force rules” after the incident, and officials said they planned to “continue improving training methods, to ensure that excessive force becomes a thing of the past.”¹⁸

King’s experience also became the subject of Traffic Stop, a 30-minute HBO documentary that debuted on February 19, 2018 and was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Documentary Short Subject.¹⁹²⁰ Grigg called the film “beautifully done” and said she hoped it would “bring positive change between police and communities of color.”²¹

1
Austin American-Statesman. City Approves $425,000 Payment to Settle King’s Excessive Force Lawsuit
2
NBC News. Austin Police Chief Sickened by Violent Arrest of Breaion King
3
Equal Justice Initiative. Austin Police Violently Arrest Black Teacher
4
ABC News. Austin Police Chief Sickened, Saddened by Arrest of Breaion King
5
Courthouse News Service. Black Teacher Sues Austin for Violent Arrest
6
CBS News Texas. Judge Tosses Out Austin Suit Over Violent Arrest
7
KXAN. Officer Will Not Be Charged for Slamming Breaion King to Ground
8
The Seattle Times. City Hires Lawyer for Officer Who Threw Teacher to Ground
9
CBS Austin. Judge Dismisses Lawsuit Against City of Austin
10
KXAN. Breaion King’s Lawsuit Against the City of Austin Dismissed
11
KVUE. Austin City Council Approves $425,000 Settlement in Breaion King Case
12
FOX 7 Austin. Council Talks Temporary Fire Stations, Approves $425K Breaion King Settlement
13
Austin American-Statesman. Officer in Breaion King Case Fired Amid New Force Complaint
14
KXAN. Investigation of Officers in Breaion King Case Completed
15
Spectrum News. Austin Officer in Breaion King Arrest Involved in New Disciplinary Hearing
16
Austin American-Statesman. In Deal With Prosecutors, Officer in Controversial Arrests Vows Never to Police Travis County Again
17
Austin American-Statesman. Tentative Settlement Reached in Breaion King Case
18
PBS NewsHour. No Indictment, One Apology, and One Settlement for Three Police Misconduct Cases This Week
19
IndieWire. Traffic Stop Trailer: HBO Oscar Short
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EURweb. HBO Sets Traffic Stop, Oscar-Nominated Doc on Breaion King’s Traumatic Arrest
21
CBS Austin. Breaion King’s Lawyer Responds to APD Officer Firing