A white woman arrested by a black police officer in Florida was recorded going on a racist rant in the back of a cop car, threatening that her Ku Klux Klan (KKK) friends would burn his family.
Julie Edwards, 53, was arrested and accused of drunk driving in DeLand last week by Volusia County Sheriff’s Office deputy Brandon King, BuzzFeed News reported Wednesday.
{mosads}King was responding to a disturbance report and pulled Edwards over as she was trying to leave the property, the police report obtained by the outlet states.
She allegedly refused to take a breathalyzer test or perform a field sobriety test. The deputy noted in the report that he smelled alcohol on her breath and saw that she was walking unsteadily.
While handcuffed and in the back of the police cruiser after allegedly attempting to resist, Edwards launched into a racist tirade that was captured on King’s body camera. The deputy was in the process of completing the paperwork for her arrest.
Edited portions of the video were released by the Volusia County Sheriff’s Office on Twitter, and Edwards is heard telling King that “my KKK people will [find you].”
King asks Edwards if she was making a threat to a law enforcement officer and warned that he would add it to her list of charges.
“I didn’t say it about you. I said they know people like you,” Edwards said in the video. “Hey, ain’t a damn thing wrong with burning a cross in your yard, is there?”
“You f—ed with the wrong white people,” she told the officer before adding that she hoped he didn’t have any children.
Edwards also told King that his “eyes will be poked out” and the “KKK got your ass, boy.”
She is also heard saying that “n—–s should’ve never been let out of slavery.”
“My KKK friends with burn your family,” Edwards told King. “You should never be here in the first place. You ever been whipped on a whipping post?”
The police report obtained by BuzzFeed News states that King took Edwards’s threats seriously.
“Deputy King is of African-American descent and knows the history behind the KKK and the pain and torture they have caused and still cause to African-Americans today,” the report said.
Edwards is facing charges of making threats against a law enforcement officer, resisting an officer without violence, driving under the influence, and prior refusal to submit to testing.
Volusia County Sheriff Mike Chitwood praised the deputy’s demeanor during the encounter.
“Kudos to Deputy King for his calm response to al the racist garbage this KKK enthusiast could throw at him,” the sheriff wrote on Twitter. “Great job Deputy & thank you to everyone condemning the hate in this video!”
–This report was updated on Feb. 14 at 7:00 a.m.