The authorities in Austin, Texas, were investigating a year-old encounter in which a black female driver was dragged from her car and thrown to the ground twice by a white police officer.
A second officer was also under investigation for telling the driver, an elementary-school teacher, that white people were sometimes wary of black people because of their "violent tendencies."
The episode unfolded on June 15, 2015, but only recently emerged in the news media after the driver, Breaion King, 26, of Austin, hired a lawyer who sought dashboard-camera videos from the Austin Police Department.
In one video, an officer, Bryan Richter, could be seen pulling up in his patrol car behind King's vehicle in a Wendy's parking lot. He told her she had been driving 50 mph in a 35 mph zone, according to police records.
As she emerged from the car, he asked her twice in rapid succession to get back in. After she did, they spoke briefly, and Richter asked her twice to put her feet back into her car so that he could close the door. She responded, "Could you please hurry up?"
The encounter quickly grew tense as he directed her to stand, and he reached into the car. King could be heard saying loudly: "No! Why are you touching me?"
Richter repeatedly told her to "Stop resisting!" and "Get out of the car!" as the horn blared and her car rocked.
Richter then yanked her from the car, spun her and threw her to the ground, the video shows. When she stood up, he lifted her and threw her to the ground again. He then handcuffed her and lifted her up by her hands as another officer, Patrick Spradlin, arrived. She then asked for a black officer.
King was sitting in the back of a police car when she and Spradlin began discussing race, a conversation that was recorded in a separate video:
King: "I believe that Caucasians have more supremacy over black people, just to be honest. They have more rights. I think a lot of people are afraid of black people."
Spradlin: "Why are so many people afraid of black people?"
King: "That's what I want to figure out. Because I'm not a bad black person."
Spradlin: "I can give you a really good idea why it might be that way."
King: "Why?"
Spradlin: "Violent tendencies."
"I want you to think about that. I'm not saying anything. I'm not saying it's true. I'm not saying that I can prove it or nothing. But 99 percent of the time when you hear about stuff like that, it is the black community that's being violent. That's why a lot of the white people are afraid."
The Austin American-Statesman and KVUE-TV originally reported on the videos, which they obtained this week.
In an interview Friday, King said Spradlin's comments had saddened her.
"I was hurt," she said. "It was very disheartening to know that when people see me, they see violence, or when people see me, they see anger."
[US Senate's only black Republican talks of disrespect from police]
Austin Police Chief Art Acevedo said at a news conference Thursday that he was "sickened and saddened" by what he saw on the videos. He said that he had apologized to King and that the way Richter had handled the encounter was inconsistent with the department's expectations.
He said he had ordered an "exhaustive review" of the officer's conduct since the time of King's arrest, as well as a criminal investigation to help the district attorney's office determine whether the case should be presented to a grand jury.
King did not file a complaint at the time. She was charged with resisting arrest, but that was dropped in January.
The chief put the episode in the larger context of a nation divided by race and high-profile instances in which white officers have killed unarmed black people. He also said he was taken aback by Spradlin's comments.
"For those that think that life is perfect for people of color, I want you to listen to that conversation and tell me that we don't have social issues in this nation, issues of bias, issues of racism, issues of people being looked at differently because of their color," the chief said.
King, who is pursuing a master's degree in education at Texas State University, said she had been driving during a break between work and school in San Marcos when she saw a red truck speeding ahead of her, and heard a police siren behind her. She said she was in disbelief that the traffic stop escalated so quickly and that she was "tossed around" and arrested.
"Honestly, I do not know what happened," she said. "It happened so quickly."
Erica Grigg, a lawyer for King, said: "It's terrifying to me that something can escalate like that — and that quickly. I was heartbroken because I'm a white woman, and when I watched that tape, all I could think was that would never happen to me."
She said King believed the officers should be held accountable.
King said she had bruises and swelling from the ordeal and that a year later her shoulders still hurt. She had taken days off from work and school after the encounter and was not as outgoing as she once was, but was trying to get better for the students she refers to as "my kids."
"I am continuing to seek peace in myself," she said.
Asked if she intended to sue, she said, "We are going to just let it take its course."
But she added, "An apology is a good start."