On Monday September 11th 2023, i had an ongoing argument most of that afternoon with A "Gentleman" I was romantically involved with. Late that afternoon Clay County Sheriff's were called and I was placed under arrest. The gentleman pressed charges on me for shoving him and smacking him on the face during our heated argument earlier that afternoon.
I complied fully with the arresting officers. Even though I was not read my Miranda rights at the time of my arrest. I went with them willing without much of an argument. I was handcuffed and placed in the police car. Both officers were vary respectful at the time of my arrest. I even audibly commented to the officer in the car ride to the station that I understood he was only doing his job and that I wasn't upset with him personally.
After arriving at the Clay County Police Station around 8:00 p.m. I was led in the doors, my handcuffs were removed, and I waited patiently for directions.
I was approached by a female jailer. A heavy set young woman in her early to mid-20s who immediately told me to take off all my jewelry. Which I did. She then told me I would have to take off my dreadlock extensions.
I then clearly identified myself to her as I had done to the other officers As a Native American Medicine Woman. I set down on the floor legs crossed and removed all the extensions I could, that weren't fused to my hair. Then I tried to explain to her that as a Medicine Woman I'm the holy woman in my dreadlocks are part of my religious garb, a sacred practice of Devotion to my beliefs some of them fused together for over 10 years.
The young woman said it didn't matter, the copper wire, beads, and simi precious stones could be used as a weapon to harm myself or others, and if I didn't remove them myself they would be removed by force.
I told her that I couldn't because they're part of my hair now and she ordered the other gard to grab "the chair".
"The Chair" basically meaning a high backed metal wheel chair with thick straps on the shoulders wrists and ankles, they were going to use to hold me down as they scalped me.
I watch as they wheeled the chair over to me, i was in shock at first.. then overcome with Terror when I realized just how dark my situation was about to get. I begged them to put me in solitary confinement or a straight jacket or anything just not my hair. We hold our knowledge in our braids.
I Still cooperated and set in the chair as ordered. I continued to beg and plead with tear-filled eyes as they straped me down to the chair. I held still and I allowed them to strap me down. I did not struggle. I did not put up a fight.
Once I was securely strapped to the chair I was wheeled into the holding cell, the young woman and two other male jailers,each armed with scissors begin the process of removing my sacred locks..
To trim or clean or manicure my locks takes 12 or more hours you have to remove stones and beads and copper wires. Which I normally do carefully and slowly in a safe protected place that I have burnt sage in. And only on the black moon. All the different stones and copper wire in my hair serve a purpose. They protect me from bad frequencies and Energies and strengthen my connection to my ancestors and the great spirit. And these Ignorant Savages are about to just rip them apart.
I began singing my prayers to my ancestors and the great spirit, alternating between English and different native languages. I was trying to avoid anymore Panic or fear from from this already traumatic experience So i put my mind somewhere else. What started off gently at first soon became rougher and rougher as they pulled and jerked my head in every direction. They alternated and took turns to give each other short breaks. The young woman returned from her short break and began mocking me
"I don't know what that is it sounds Hawaiian."
I ignore this night comment and I just kept singing to drowned her out. Then laughing she has if I knew any other songs.
I looked at her and said I would prefer to see my prayers to my ancestors as they ripped my locks from my head.
The young woman became increasingly more violent, painfully ripping it my hair, she began to say something else, but I sing loudly enough the sound echoing in the small concrete room drowned her voice out completely.
During the entire ordeal I would try to move my head to make it easier for them. both to avoid excess pain and to get this over with as fast as possible. However this young woman begin ripping actual hair from my scalp. Causing so much pain I would have to pull away and even causing me to jerk and response to the pain. As an immediate response to the jerk reaction she caused she then placed the thumb on my throat, just under my right cheekbone, she pressed hard upward and inward cutting off my windpipe. This was enough Force to leave a bruise still visible in the pictures I took 48 hours later. I don't remember what she was saying after that, I remember hearing her voice but my brain clouded with the rush of endorphins which is a natural occurrence caused by the brief asphyxiation.
When they were finished with the Savage Act of removing my locks they exited the cell, leaving me alone in the cell, still trapped to the chair. I was still singing, I tried to turn my feet and hands to as close to a yoga meditation position as I could and did several breathing exercises to sooth myself and bring back my level head, clear mind,and Also in preparation for whatever was coming next.
Eventually I was unstrapped from the chair and they wheeled it out of the cell and I was left standing there looking around at the so-called dangerous pieces of my dreadlocks all over the floor. They had picked up the dreadlocks and some of the remnants but left strips of my copper wires, tattered hair wraps, broken beads and stones and even some of my old base locks scattered across the cell floor.
I sit with my knees crossed and my eyes closed and again put my mind somewhere other than in that room.
It was probably 30 min later before they interrupted my meditation to reinitiate the booking process.
I was strip searched booked and photographed by the same angry young woman who had just escalated that brutal violation of my human rights to a literal hate crime, in the form of police brutality.
After the strip search my undergarments were taken from from me and i was forced to parade around the cold police station, as they finished booking me in and doing my mug shot, in only my thin tshirt and leggings, and unable to even cover or see the disaster they had left of my head. I stood tall with my back straight and my chin held high. I didn't show a ounce of shame, or fear, or weekness, or self doubt. As though the entire nightmare hadn't just happened. I even cracked jokes and had to be told to stop smiling for my mugshot. I stood there in front of strangers dirty faced, half naked, cold, my once beautiful and infamous locks now only short nappy locks mixed in to jagged bits of hair with little bald patches.
"Occupation?" they asked
"Im an artist, a model, I make you tube videos, and im the medicine woman for my tribe."
.. I finally returned to my cell with the so-called dangerous components still on the floor. I finally gathered them all up and flush them down the very dirty toilet in the corner of the cell. If I was going to be stuck in there for 2 days I wasn't going to stare at them the whole time. I cleared all the dangers remants myself and remove the constant reminders. I knew I needed a clear head and a strong mind and morning and moping and crying over my beautiful hair would only distract me and possibly cause me to react emotionally in the future instead of wisely. I couldn't afford any more loss of focus or Clarity in this dangerous situation and place.
I was held in the same small concrete cell for 48 hours straight a bright light stayed on 24/7 with no windows or sunlight. I was told the first day by the sergeant I would see a nurse, but that never happened.
I was forced to remain in the same filthy clothes I was arrested in the entire 48 hours with the exception of my undergarments which were removed in the beginning during the strip search only return to me when I was released.
I was never given any soap or toiletries of any kind. I was only handed a crude rubber mat and two blankets and nothing else until they handed me my breakfast the next morning.
I complained to the sergeant during booking that I had nothing to drink from and the sink was filthy as were my hands. So I removed the cardboard roll from the toilet paper and used it as a cup. He remarks not to waste the toilet paper because it's all I would get, to which I told him it was all still there rolled up nice and neatly I only needed a drinking cup. However I was still never offered an actual cup to put water in. I was even forced to use my milk box from The Breakfast the next day as my water cup for the majority of my stay.
The day of the rest I've been working outside all day I was clearing a large fallen tree and some huge limbs from the yard. I broke them down using only a machete into smaller pieces and burned them off in a fire pit. I was still tuning that fire and even roasting food on it when I was arrested that day. So I was filthy covered in fire suit, yard debris, and a day's sweat. This doesn't bother me normally. However I was forced to stay in those filthy clothes for the entire 48 hours and never given any soap. I had to rinse my feet and hands and face in a small dirty sink with cold water, and dry them on my own blanket.
48 hours later after my release I walked out of Clay County jail, holding a plastic grocery bag containing my sacred locks, my 100% dead cell phone, and my wallet. The wallet they removed from my purse as I was arrested. I remember the officer asking if the purse was mine. He was holding it in his hand and walking toward his police car, but I was being put in the other police car and missed it when he took my wallet out of my purse and left the purse behind. As terms of my release I am to have no contact with the young man who filed charges against me, so my purse was left there, I assume, in a place they knew I couldn't come back to. Along with everything else ,in order to retrieve my belongings I have to call the police that just defiled my dignity dignity, and have them escort me and stand by as I gather my belongings.
When I was released i instead went to a female friend's house. Finally able to shower and assess the damage I found 11 different bruises all over my body all photographed and unnecessary. I realize that my head was covered in bald patches including one right next to my face where the hair was ripped out of my scalp. Even short tubs of hair were they just chopped off entire dreadlocks with scissors leaving less than an inch of hair behind. I now have before and after pictures and have photographed all the bruises. However I haven't gathered the strength yet to call them and ask them for their assistance in getting my belongings back. Meaning I still only have what I left the police station with everything else I own is still at the gentleman's house who might have not had any contact with.