Oregon State Police this week publicly released the body camera footage of the controversial arrest of a 21-year-old Oregon State University student who was stopped by a trooper last week for allegedly riding her bicycle on the wrong side of a Corvallis street.

At a news conference Tuesday, the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People expressed concerns over “implicit bias” and “systemic racism” after the Oct. 13 arrest of Genesis Hansen, who describes herself in the body cam video as “an African American mixed woman.”

“We are here to take a stand because black and brown people across this country have stories, too many stories similar to Genesis Hansen’s, except some of them are not alive today to tell it,” said Angel Harris, president of the Corvallis-Albany NAACP, during the news conference.

State police said they were releasing the 38-minute video recorded by a camera worn by the arresting trooper, Kelly Katsikis, “in an effort towards transparency.” The full video can be viewed here, with the audio starting after 30 seconds.

In a written statement, the agency said it’s “committed to eliminating racial profiling and implicit bias in policing,” that “these allegations are being meticulously reviewed” and that they are “taking a serious look at the incident.”

Katsikis said he was pedaling behind Hansen on his bike near Northwest 16th Street and Jackson Avenue when he stopped her. He arrested her under criminal accusations of interfering with a peace officer and resisting arrest. Court records, however, show that as of Wednesday, she’s only been charged with a non-criminal traffic violation, “Failure to Drive on the Right.” Police say that violation applies to bicyclists as well as drivers.

State police blurred the faces of Hansen and others in the video.

In more than 20 minutes of recorded conversation leading up to the arrest, the body cam footage shows a tense exchange. Katsikis answers one of her questions by simply saying “nope” and describes his interaction with Hansen as a “circus,” but he also talks at length with the young woman.

He also notes that bystanders are video recording them from a distance.

Without raising her voice and keeping her hands in front of her during the conversation, Hansen says she doesn’t believe she was cycling on the wrong side of the street, and she notes that there isn’t a painted lane line designating one side of the road from the other. Hansen repeatedly asks the officer to show her the law that requires her to show her identification.

Genesis Hansen, 21, can be seen here standing next to the road she had been cycling along, after an Oregon State Police trooper stopped her on Oct. 13, 2019. Police blurred out her face. (Oregon State Police)

“You have to understand people who look like me are often …,” Hansen starts to say.

Katsikis interjects: “What do you look like? You keep saying that. I don’t understand what you look like. How do you look any different than me?”

“Well, I’m an African American mixed woman,” Hansen responds. “I’m a petite figure. So I will say that men who are in a police uniform often abuse their power and the rules that they have. All I’m asking is for you to show me the rule of this violation.”

According to the Corvallis-Albany NAACP and the ACLU of Oregon, civilians aren’t required to show ID in this state. According to an ACLU guide about what to do if stopped by police: “It is not illegal in Oregon to refuse to identify yourself, but police may detain you until they establish your identity.”

Katsikis didn’t explain it quite like that.

“It is customary in our society that when a police officer who is clearly identified as such tells you to pull over for a violation, you go along with the program,” Katsikis tells Hansen. “That is the requirement. You are lawfully required to provide identification. And then the officer gets to decide whether you get a warning, a ticket or you get arrested if you’ve committed a crime.”

The conversation continues to go downhill.

“I no longer wish to give you a warning,” the trooper says. “So now I need your identification to give you a citation because that’s what I intend to do.”

Hansen responds: “I don’t feel comfortable giving you my information.”

Katsikis says: “I understand that. There will be consequences if you make that choice.”

A short while later, Katsikis grabs Hansen, and he and the assisting Corvallis officer pin her down and handcuff her.

Hansen yells “Stop! Stop! Stop! Stop!” She tries to get the officers to back off, saying: “I will comply. I need both of you to get off of me.”

One of the officers replies: “That’s not going to happen."

Hansen adds: “They say I’m resisting. I’m not moving!”

Meanwhile, bystanders yell “Whoa!” “No!” “Don’t touch her!” and “You are an abuser!” As bystanders move closer, one of the officers tells them to back off or they will be under arrest, too.

Wednesday, state police announced that next year they’ll stop providing law enforcement services to OSU -- saying they’d been considering the move for months and they need to transfer their employees to other assignments to deal with staffing shortages.

The announcement makes no mention of Hansen, but does come 10 days after her arrest and five days after the university’s president said he’d reassess the institution’s contract with state police, according to news reports.

Harris, the local NAACP president, said the NAACP and law enforcement must work together, in response to Hansen’s arrest.

“As the nation’s oldest civil rights organization, we view this civil rights violation by state and local law enforcement as another example of racial inequity and excessive use of force imposed on communities of color by law enforcement,” Harris said during the news conference. “...This behavior is unacceptable and cannot be tolerated in our society.”

Harris said the organization has a strong relationship with the Corvallis chief of police and the Benton County district attorney, and they and the Oregon State Police have been talking with the NAACP. The goal, she said, is “to work together so incidents like this don’t happen in our city, in our community.”

-- Aimee Green

agreen@oregonian.com

o_aimee

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