Groves couple claims racial bias after wife stopped while walking and ticketed
By: -----
Groves, TX - A Groves couple is demanding an apology from law enforcement after Akia Townes received a ticket for walking on the wrong side of the road, an incident they describe as an "excessive show of power." The altercation, captured on cellphone video, has gone viral online.
Akia Townes was walking along Madison Boulevard on Wednesday morning, trying to retrieve her escaped dog, when she was stopped by police. "Two cops stopped me. They walked out with their hands on their guns, and then they asked me to see my ID," Townes said. She was walking on the right side of the road with traffic, just two doors down from her home.
Her husband, Brad Townes, recorded the incident on video. A police officer told him, "She was not walking on this side of the road." Brad Townes responded, "What does it matter?" The officer replied, "It's a traffic violation," to which Brad Townes countered, "No it's not."
According to the Texas Transportation Code, pedestrians must walk on the left side of the road facing oncoming traffic if no sidewalk is provided. The situation got a bit heated with a couple of raised voices, and officers called for backup. Four officers were on the scene, which Groves PD explained was due to two officers being in field training.
"It's just very an excessive force of power for me just trying to go and find my dog," Akia Townes said. The couple has hired an attorney to fight the ticket, feeling it was an abuse of power for a minor situation. "You could have easily said 'hey ma'am,' and I could have explained to you what I was trying to do, but then you threatened my husband and threatened me to go to jail," she added.
Brad Townes expressed his frustration, saying, "I feel like they looked and saw an easy target, and nobody was going to come and defend and nobody was going to come to help."
Groves City Marshal Chris Robin stated that the department does not tolerate racism and emphasized safety as the primary goal. "We've seen so many different minor ordinance violations turn into something tragic, and we don't want that to occur. We want to be able to make a difference in making our community safer," Robin said.
The Groves Police Department reported that since January 1, 2023, there have been eight arrests for the specific violation, with five individuals being white, two Asian, and one African American. The department conducts a racial profiling report annually to ensure transparency.