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Hernandez / Run-Ins with the Police, Part Two

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Hernandez: The hallway, they took me all the way down to the end of the hallway. I was passing some- you could see the metal doors with the little windows. We passed about four of those windows and went to the end. I said, “Man, this is where they bring everybody they want to beat up, or what?” I did not know what to think. I remember they put me up there and there were like three of those deputies, and he told me to strip. I just- a lot of things are running through my mind. “Strip! I ain’t going to tell you again.” And they put their hands on their guns or on the stick or something like that, or on their hip. They were making all kinds of gestures but I do not know. I took my shirt off. My shoes. He said, “Take your socks off too. Your pants. Strip. Everything.” So I took my pants off, but I left my shorts on. They opened up the door and they threw me in. You know, they made me take my shorts off too. They stripped me down naked and they opened up the door and they kick me in, and threw in the room. It was just a little hole, and it was a padded cell. It was padded. And he threw me in there. I will never forget that because it was scary and I did not know what was going on. But I spent the night there. And then in the morning, they threw another guy in there too. They put him threw the same thing. Then in the morning they came in, “Okay boys, it is time to go see the judge. Y’all want some doughnuts? Some coffee?” Like nothing had happened, man. They took us in and sat us down. They told us, “You are going to go see the judge. Just plead guilty and you are going to get a $50 fine. You guys can go home.” We were like, “What the hell? Yeah, okay.” So we went before the judge, he gave us a $50 fine and told us we had to pay that fine and we could go home. It was a rough time, man. Very rough time. We were always more determined. We had to get past all of that.

Interview Interview with Nick Hernandez
Subjects Police and Law Enforcement › Police Brutality
Police and Law Enforcement › Jails
Police and Law Enforcement › Sheriffs
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Interview date 2016-07-08
Interview source CRBB Summer 2016
Interviewees Hernandez, Nick
Locations Odessa, TX
Duration 00:02:53
Citation "Run-Ins with the Police, Part Two," from Nick Hernandez oral history interview with ,  July 08, 2016, Odessa, TX, Civil Rights in Black and Brown Interview Database, https://crbb.tcu.edu/clips/2982/run-ins-with-the-police-part-two, accessed April 24, 2024