‘Take Care of Him!’: Racist Woman Tells Friend to Confront Black Man. He Gets More Than What He Bargained for
A Black man who was minding his own business about to eat his lunch in Alaska was assaulted by a racist Native American woman who tossed water in his face, resulting in her arrest.
Then, as police were arresting Marisa Didrickson, the 48-year-old woman turned to her Native American friend, Christopher Williams Jr., telling him to “take care of him” — regarding the Black man she had just assaulted.
That was when Juneau Police Officer Brandon LeBlanc began shoving Williams away from the area, body slamming him to the ground, causing Williams’ head to strike the sidewalk, knocking him unconscious and snoring – even though he was not fighting the cop.
Didrickson, meanwhile, was going off on Black people as she was being placed in the back of the patrol car.
“F_ck Black people,” she said, according to body camera footage released.
The 52-year-old Black man, a former school board candidate named Ibn Bailey, recorded the body slam and posted the video on the internet, where it went viral, resulting in the cop losing his job.
LeBlanc, who was hired less than a year before the incident, was still on his probationary period when he apparently was forced to resign.
He had previously worked as a cop in Louisiana, where he was sued for abusing a Black man by tasering him several times as other cops were beating him, but that suit was dismissed.
Juneau Police Chief Derek Bos told local media that Williams was body slammed because he was “resisting,” but there is no record of his arrest from that date in the Alaska online court system and no word from police, prosecutors and the media in Juneau as to whether he was actually taken to jail and formally charged.
Body camera videos released show that he was unconscious and snoring and was transported to a hospital in an ambulance for a head injury.
Didrickson was charged with misdemeanor count of “disorderly conduct – provoke violence” — a charge that remains pending, according to online court records.
Watch the video below.
‘We’re a Minority Within a Minority Within a Minority’
The incident took place on July 30 and exposed the racial tensions between the majority-white Juneau Police Department and the local Native community as well as the tensions between the Native community and local Black community.
According to the U.S. Census data, white people make up more than 60 percent of the population in Juneau, the capital of Alaska, which consists of just over 30,000 residents. Native Americans make up 8 percent of the population while Black people make up 1 percent.
The incident also led to protests from the local Native American community in front of the Juneau Police Department in the days following the incident.
“We’re not all here just for what happened to Chris,” Williams’ cousin, Pamela James, told the Juneau Independent during the protest.
“But this has happened multiple times in our town and none of us don’t seem to be feeling safe.”
Bailey, who has lived in Juneau for 30 years, said he has never had issues with the local cops over his race but has had issues with the local Native American community.
“According to the U.S. Census, there’s less than 300 Black families that live in Juneau, in a place that’s 31,000,” Bailey told the Juneau Independent.
“So we’re a minority within a minority within a minority — we’re a micro ethnic group here in this town. For us to actually grow and thrive, and live here and be part of the community, we have to be extra careful,” he said.
Although Black people have historically been persecuted by police in the United States; arrested, abused and killed at disproportionate rates compared to white people, Native Americans have had it even worse, according to several studies.
But despite Black people making up only 1 percent of the population and having nothing to do with the discrimination against the local Native American community, Didrickson revealed an unexplainable animosity towards the local Black community.
‘F_ck Black People’
Bailey had just purchased his lunch at a gas station and placed the bag of food on a bench in front of a public library while he walked a few feet away to smoke a cigarette.
Didrickson, meanwhile, walked up and sat on the bench next to his food.
“I came to retrieve my food because she was talking to the air,” Bailey explained to Juneau police officer Terry Allen, the first cop to respond to the scene after a witness called police.
“I reach for my food, she grabbed my bag and told me, ‘Get off my bench, this is mine.’”
“She ripped the bag, and then she threw the water in my face. That’s assault.”
Bailey continued explaining to the cop that he and the woman were each tugging at the bag of food he had just purchased.
“She started insulting me,” he said, explaining that she walked away from him and started pestering a child with their mother by saying, “Come here, come here.”
“She was racially intimidating, pointing out the fact that I’m Black, that I don’t belong here.”
Another woman walking her dogs, who had called the police, told Allen it was the woman who began harassing Bailey, which is when they decided to arrest Didrickson.
“Y’all ain’t going to be talking about Black people no more,” Bailey can be heard saying in the background as they are arresting Didrickson.
“We ain’t gonna tolerate that sh_t no more.”
While she is being handcuffed, Didrickson asks the cops, “You guys like Black people?”
Meanwhile, Williams is standing near the scene, but it is not clear if he is interfering.
“Take care of him! Take care of him!” Didrickson tells Williams, who is standing a few feet behind them as she is being arrested.
That was when LeBlanc started shoving Williams.
“Go before you go to jail, too,” he said, shoving him on the sidewalk.
“F_ck him, f_ck Black people,” she says as she is being placed in the car.
Williams, meanwhile, did not appreciate being shoved by LeBlanc.
“F_cker! Don’t do that! Don’t do that!” he tells LeBlanc.
“Turn around, you’re going to jail too,” LeBlanc says, grabbing him and placing him against a patrol car.
“Put your hands behind your back,” the cop orders. “You’re about to get slammed.”
“I was walking,” Williams tells the cop, which was when LeBlanc picks him up and slams him, causing his head to strike the sidewalk, which knocked him out instantly, leaving him snoring.
“Walking now, huh?” LeBlanc taunted the unconscious man as he was handcuffing him.
When paramedics arrived, they asked Officer Allen why Williams was unconscious.
“He was fighting with my officer here,” Allen explained, even though video evidence clearly shows he was not fighting.
“They both went down to the ground, they both hit the cement here. He just started snoring.”
Bailey said he would like to engage in discussions between the local police department and the Native American community.
“I hope that he has a speedy recovery,” he told the Juneau Independent regarding Williams, who is still recovering from the head injury.
“I hope that all of us can go away from this unfortunate occurrence with a better understanding of each other,” Bailey added.