African-Americans in Asheville are far more likely to be charged with resisting an officer during a police encounter than white people. A five-year analysis of arrest records from the Asheville Citizen-Times shows that 35 percent of resisting an officer charges — sometimes called “resist, delay, obstruct” or RDO — were made against African-Americans, even though black people are only 12 percent of the Asheville population.
Asheville Citizen-Times reporter Joel Burgess, who covers government accountability, conducted the analysis and spoke to many people in the community about the disparity he found.
Burgess joins host Frank Stasio to share reaction from the Asheville Police Department and to talk about what might be behind the racial differences in RDO charges.