Sierra Morrison remembers the first time she stepped onto Clark Atlanta University’s campus. She traveled from her high school in Minneapolis to tour colleges, and something felt right about the Georgia HBCU.
“Just being in Atlanta and seeing so many people who look like me, in so many different spaces, spaces that I wanted to be in,” Morrison recalled. “Culture was what led me here. I knew it was when I first visited.”
Clark Atlanta, she said, was her dream school, where she will receive her bachelor’s degree in criminal justice in 2021 and then pursue her master’s in social work.
But on Feb. 6, that dream turned into a nightmare when Morrison was arrested by a campus police officer in her classroom and marched across campus in handcuffs.
Her crime: forgetting her college ID at home.
And to make matters worse, footage of Morrison’s arrest would soon go viral on social media.
The arrest
Arriving on campus for her 9am class last week, Morrison, 26, realized she had forgotten her student ID.
“Upon entering the campus, I was asked for my student card,” she said. “I left [campus safety officer] you know I didn’t have my ID and I assured her I was a student. I suggested he walk me to class so my teacher could vouch that I was a student. She didn’t do that. I walked to class.”
About 20 minutes into her Leadership and Clinical Development class, Morrison noticed two police officers roaming the hallway. When they stopped at her classroom door, she said one of the officers walked in and stood at the back of the room. She said he pointed at her, “You in the green jacket, come with me.”
When Morrison walked down the hall, she said, one of the officers told her to show her ID — “or I’m going to put you under arrest.”
“I’m sobbing. I’m distraught, I’m confused, I’m embarrassed.”
Sierra Morrison
Her explanation that she didn’t have ID but was a current student didn’t seem to count, she said.
“He put me in handcuffs after I asked,” she said. “Once he put me in handcuffs, he said I was under arrest.”
In a video of the incident, Morrison’s teacher, Nathaniel Currie, can be seen coming to his aid and assuring the officer he was in his class and offering to produce documents.
A student can be heard asking for the officer’s name. Handcuffing Morrison, he identifies himself as Corporal Israel.
“I’m sobbing. I’m angry, I’m confused, I’m embarrassed,” Morrison said. “My class is stalking me. I’m humiliated. I’m treated like a criminal when I’m a student. I’m being kicked out of a class where I’m legal and it’s turned into a crime.”
To date, the University has not released the name of the arresting officer. Representatives of the university and the campus police department could not be reached for comment prior to publication.
Morrison said she didn’t want the situation to escalate like one of her hometown’s deadly police encounters, so she complied.
“I’m from Minnesota, so I’ve seen how unchecked authority causes situations to escalate that weren’t even meant to escalate,” she said. “They led me down three flights of stairs and then across campus in handcuffs.”
One of Morrison’s friends went with her, trying to reassure her that everything would be okay and that she should just do what they told her.
Once at the Campus Public Safety office, one of Morrison’s tapes fell out of place. That’s when she told Capital B Atlanta that Israel pushed her against the wall and cuffed her, bruising her wrists.
Left restrained in a room for an hour, she continued to cry. She asked for a phone call because she was scheduled to pick up her 2-year-old daughter after class.
Sierra Morrison, seen here with her daughter Journi, is in her last semester of her master’s program and just bought her first house. “We have built a life here. I will not allow it to be thrown away,” she said. (Courtesy of Sierra Morrison)
Once the handcuffs were removed by another officer, her teacher was allowed to see her.
“[Currie] came to my rescue. He said he’s not sure what’s going on, but at the moment, “Let’s get through this and we’ll figure it out.”
After two more hours, she said, the dean of her department came down and told her that in order for the police to let her go, she would have to attend a meeting the next day with Clark Atlanta Police Chief Debra Williams. Morrison agreed, determined to leave as soon as possible to get to her daughter and work.
“I dissociated. I was in the moment, physically, but mentally. I mean, I didn’t have any fight in me. I begged, I begged, I cried, I used my words. I didn’t expect it to happen to me. And I’m not speaking out of anger, just disappointment that a university that is committed to allowing such a disappointment and education of students to elevate and judge. The situation could have been solved in so many other ways.”
The video goes viral
By the time Morrison arrived at work later that day at a residential facility for exploited children, video of her arrest was beginning to circulate on social media. Morrison’s friend, LaTajah Lassus, posted a video of the incident and included the following caption on her Instagram account @thebrigheststarfire:
“During Black History Month at my Historically Black College…a classmate was arrested in class for not having her #cau ID (her paw book) GO PANTHERS!
“Let’s face it, given the societal and cultural landscape, this is absolutely UNACCEPTABLE! And I do not feel safe on my campus. I do not trust CAU PD to have the students’ best interests at heart.”
“I didn’t know the video was posted until people came up to me at work,” Morrison said. “People are texting me saying they saw the video.”
The tears fell again.
“It’s a moment that was already embarrassing enough to have lived in a classroom full of people, now extremely humiliating because now it’s public. So every like, every comment, every share, I have to relive the moment.”
“After talking to my parents, they encouraged me not to run away from the situation.”
Sierra Morrison
The next morning, Morrison said, she didn’t feel ready to talk to the police chief, so she declined the meeting. Hesitant but determined, she decided to return to class.
“After talking to my parents, they encouraged me not to run away from the situation,” Morrison said.
But on her way to class, she said, she saw the officer who had handcuffed her the day before.
“That’s the exact reason I didn’t want to go,” she recalled. “Not only am I now seeing the same person who put me in the situation, not even 24 hours before, but now I’m back in the same class.”
Shaking in her seat, her colleagues continued to check on her, along with Currie.
“I kind of went through that course.”
“No one tried to hear my side of the story”
On Feb. 7, Clark Atlanta President George T. French Jr. released a letter to the student body addressing the controversy.
“We recognize that the student’s refusal to present ID interfered with campus access protocols and contributed to the escalation of the situation,” he wrote. “The university expects all members of our community to follow Clark Atlanta University’s public safety procedures.”
French shared his concern about the responding officer’s actions, in which he “entered an active training space and attempted to make an arrest. This action was disruptive to the academic environment and, in our assessment, exceeded the appropriate boundaries for law enforcement involvement in training environments.”
For Morrison, the president’s statement was not enough.
“I was very disappointed because it just wasn’t true,” she said. “No one tried to hear my side of the story or tried to reach out to get some clarification. So apparently they talked to Corporal Israel and followed his story. Now I’m made out to be the problem rather than just a student going to class.”
Morrison said putting the arresting officer on leave is a start, but more needs to be done: “If there’s no accountability, what does that say for the safety of our students? How can our students feel safe?” (Courtesy of Sierra Morrison)
In a letter posted Feb. 9 on Facebook, Police Chief Williams announced that the officer had been placed on leave. For Morrison, it’s a start.
The university has not announced whether the office is on paid leave. But if it is, Morrison said that would be unfair. “So you get to go on vacation while I seek therapy.” she said. “You’re on the beach; I’m in a counselor’s office.”
Student comments on social media posts about the incident called for an end to Israel. Morrison said he agreed. “If there is no accountability, what does that say for the safety of our students?” she said. “How can our students feel safe?”
During a brief meeting Tuesday with Andre McKinney, Clark Atlanta’s associate dean of students, Morrison said he was told he would not receive a citation or violation from the school and would remain in good standing even though he violated a code of conduct rule.
“It’s completely ignored that it escalated,” she said. “I made sure I could stay at Clark Atlanta University.”
Morrison, who is in her final semester of her master’s program, said she has spoken with a lawyer about her options and has also considered leaving what was once her dream school. But then she recalls some of the reasons she came to Atlanta eight years ago, her career aspirations to create therapeutic spaces to help children heal from trauma, and the house she bought five months ago for herself and her daughter Journi.
“We have built a life here. I will not allow it to be thrown away,” she said. “I have worked so hard to build a good foundation and I refuse to allow it to be broken.”
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