Brad Townes/Facebook
A couple in Texas is fighting back after what they believe was a racially biased interaction with police. While searching their neighborhood for their dog, police stopped and questioned Akia Townes. Her husband was by her side the entire time. And yet, when police gave the woman a ticket for an alleged traffic violation, her husband did not get one.
The biggest and most obvious difference between the couple? Akia Townes is Black, and her husband Brad Townes, is white. Although police claim the stop wasn’t racially motivated, the couple believes otherwise.
The pair was walking through their neighborhood in Groves, Texas, on Wednesday, April 2, 2025. Their dog had escaped, and the couple was out searching for it, they explained to KFDM. While they walked, police approached them.
“Two cops stopped me. They walked out with their hands on their guns, and then they asked me to see my ID,” Akia Townes told KFDM. She was walking with traffic on the right side of the road, only two houses away from her own.
Brad Townes filmed the interaction with his phone. “She was not walking on this side of the road,” an officer told Brad Townes. “What does it matter?” the man asked. The officer said she was committing a “traffic violation,” but Brad Townes pushed back. “No it’s not.”
According to the Texas Transportation Code, pedestrians must walk on the left side of the road, facing traffic, if there’s no sidewalk. After the incident escalated, two more officers arrived, making four total.
“It’s just very an excessive force of power for me just trying to go and find my dog,” Akia Townes said. “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 continued.
Of course, her husband is also upset. “I feel like they looked and saw an easy target, and nobody was going to come and defend and nobody was going to come help,” Brad Townes said.
“I felt I was racially profiled while walking down my own street,” Akia Townes said in a Facebook post. “The excessive use of force on a small black pregnant woman was to much, I will forever be traumatized from this situation.”
The Groves Police Department released a statement regarding the incident. “We understand the concerns raised regarding recent enforcement actions by our officers and want to take this opportunity to reaffirm our commitment to transparency, accountability, and equal treatment for all members of our community,” the statement reads. “We want to be absolutely clear: discrimination of any kind—including racial discrimination—is not tolerated in this department.”
Since then, Akia and Brad Townes have sought legal advice and intend to fight the ticket. Langston Adams, an attorney, spoke with KFDM after reviewing the documents. “It’s not a question of whether she was breaking the law,” Adams said.
“We believe it’s selective enforcement and racial profiling. Why didn’t the husband get a ticket? He was also walking on the wrong side of the road and he’s white. I believe they used her walking on the wrong side of the road as a pretext to stop her.”
