Cop arrests woman at her home for not showing ID, attorney says. Now mayor apologizes
A police officer entered a woman’s home and arrested her for not showing her identification — except failing to do so is not a law in Alabama, her attorney said.
The mayor has issued an apology to Twyla Stallworth after her arrest and said all charges would be dropped.
On Feb. 23, Stallworth called police to complain about her neighbor’s noise levels but said police didn’t respond, according to a news release from her attorney, Harry Daniels.
Stallworth set off her car alarm to get her neighbor’s attention, then when her neighbor complained, Officer Grant Barton with the Andalusia Police Department responded, Daniels said.
The officer told her she could be cited for setting off her alarm, but she called him out for saying he would cite her, a Black woman, and not her white neighbor, the attorney said.
That marks the beginning of a five-minute video, recorded by Stallworth’s 18-year-old son and shared by Daniels. In the video, Barton asks to see Stallworth’s identification. She refuses.
“I’m not giving you my ID,” Stallworth says.
The officer takes out his handcuffs and tells her she is under arrest, the video shows.
“Alright turn around and put your hands behind your back,” Barton responds.
The woman goes back into her home to put on her shoes as the officer repeats the command. He goes past her son into the house, and she tells him not to push her son as tensions escalate.
The son asks his mother to give the officer her ID and begs for both of them to calm down. Barton tries to place handcuffs on Stallworth, then he’s seen pushing her onto the couch. The two struggle as her son screams.
Eventually, the officer places cuffs on Stallworth and leads her outside while her son asks him to explain what’s going on.
“Right now she’s under arrest for failure to identify,” Barton says as he leads Stallworth across the lawn to his patrol car.
“That is not the law, that’s against the law,” Stallworth is heard saying.
When the son asks the officer to pull up the specific law his mom is accused of breaking, Barton shows him Alabama code section 15-5-30, called Authority of Peace Officer to Stop and Question.
The code allows a law enforcement officer to stop someone in a public place if they suspect the person is going to commit an offense or has already committed an offense and demand the person’s name and address, according to Justia Law, an online database for laws and cases.
But the law only applies if someone is in public, not at their own home as Stallworth was.
Barton is seen driving away with Stallworth in his vehicle as the video ends.
Stalworth was charged with obstruction, resisting arrest and attempting to elude, and she was held for 15 hours, her attorney said.
On March 8, Andalusia Mayor Earl Johnson shared a video apologizing to Stallworth for the incident and pledging to do better.
“I have met with the Andalusia police chief and other leaders in the department,” Johnson said. “We have agreed that the entire department will receive additional training in Constitutional law, the laws of Alabama, and the ordinances of the City of Andalusia, so that we will not have an incident like this to reoccur.”
He added the officer was disciplined for “failing in his duty to know the law.” Johnson denied other issues Stallworth’s attorney raised, such as the department’s failure to respond to her noise complaints and the arrest was the result of racism.
“Ms. Stallworth has not filed a complaint with the police department, but her attorney alleges in his release that her arrest was racially motivated,” Johnson said. “We have reviewed body cam footage of the incident, and see absolutely no evidence of racism.”
He said he offered to meet with Stallworth, but she declined.
In a meeting with community members, the police chief said the department regularly trains officers on topics such as implicit bias, according to city officials.
As a result of the incident, the city of Andalusia plans to form a law enforcement advisory committee.
Stallworth has spoken up on social media about the incident, sharing a flyer to protest and bring awareness to racial profiling.
“Your rights matter,” Stallworth wrote in the post. “Fight for them.”
Andalusia is in southern Alabama, about 90 miles south of Montgomery.
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