TikTok Video of Colorado Police Arresting Two Black Women Sparks Internal Investigation

Is self-defense even an option for Black women?

A felony charge against a Black woman who was arrested for getting into a fight with a white man has been dropped by the Westminster Police Department after a video of the altercation surfaced on TikTok.

According to 9 News, the fight happened in the parking lot of a Party City store near 92nd Avenue and Sheridan Boulevard, when Charleene Gibson parked her car in front of the store entrance to run in and grab some items for her birthday celebration.

A white man, 74, approached in anger that Gibson’s car was blocking a curb ramp. As the man attempted to take a photo, Gibson said she stepped in front of his camera lens.

“Then he grabbed me, and he went like this and punched me in my jaw and then he yanked me again and then punched me two times right here, and that’s when I started to punch him back,” she said.

Gibson shared that the white man ripped through the thick jacket she was wearing as he allegedly grabbed her.

Both parties were questioned after police arrived to the scene.

Gibson’s friend NiaShay Burns, recorded the moment on her phone.

As Gibson and her sister pleaded that Gibson was only defending herself after the white man allegedly hit her, officers detained the sisters.

“He hit her first,” one of the women can be heard saying in the video.

“I understand that,” an officer responded. “We can go over this at f—— court, OK?”

https://www.tiktok.com/@naynay21295/video/7191368475376356650

Reportedly, Gibson was jailed and charged with a felony assault on an at-risk adult, while her sister and friend were both ticketed for disorderly conduct. Gibson’s sister was released from cuffs at the scene.

The white man, who was not detained, was ticketed for misdemeanor third-degree assault and disorderly conduct.

On Tuesday, Gibson received a call from WPD who told her the DA dropped the felony charge to misdemeanor disorderly conduct after hearing conflicting statements from witnesses that night.

“If I didn’t have my phone and I didn’t take it out in this situation, she would have gotten a felony charge,” Burns said. “We would have had no help.”

WPD opened an internal investigation on how the officers reacted to the call.