Princeton's president speaks out about the arrest of a black professor over a parking ticket

Screengrab via Youtube

The president of Princeton University is speaking out after a professor of African-American studies at the school was arrested during a traffic stop last week.

Professor Imani Perry, who is black, has claimed she was mistreated by police officers because of her race. She was patted down by a male officer and handcuffed to a desk after being arrested for over a 3-year-old parking ticket, she said on Twitter.

The president of Princeton, Christopher Eisgruber, released a statement online on Tuesday responding to the incident, Planet Princeton reported.

"Many on our campus and around the country have expressed understandable concern about the arrest this past weekend of Professor Imani Perry, who is a respected scholar and beloved teacher at this University," the statement read.

The letter continued on to say that Eisgruber also shared these concerns. Following Perry's arrest, she tweeted about her experience.

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https://twitter.com/mims/statuses/696340665345646592
Yesterday, on my way to work, I was arrested in Princeton Township for a single parking ticket three years ago...

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https://twitter.com/mims/statuses/696340768588480512
The police refused to allow me to make a call before my arrest, so that someone would know where I was...

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https://twitter.com/mims/statuses/696340923928735744
There was a male and a female officer, but the male officer did the body search before cuffing me and putting me in the squad car.

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https://twitter.com/mims/statuses/696341099967807489
I was handcuffed to a table at the station.

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https://twitter.com/mims/statuses/696341412326076416
At any rate, I was afraid. Many women who look like me have a much more frightening end to such arrests.

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https://twitter.com/mims/statuses/696342265502003201
But the larger point is that I'm working to move from being shaken to renewing my commitment to the struggle against racism & carcerality.

Princeton's police chief, Nick Sutter, held a public meeting on Monday to address the incident, according to Planet Princeton.

He said that he's reviewed the incident and that police followed the proper protocol. Still, he said he was not trying to shirk responsibility for the perception issue that police departments unfairly target African Americans due to their race.

"Regardless of it being 100% proper in the eyes of the law, there is a perception because of race," Sutter said according to Planet Princeton. "This is a problem for me. It is a problem that is real, and needs to be addressed."

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