Nation IN BRIEF : TEXAS : Ex-Astronaut Says Officer Was Abusive

A Nassau Bay, Texas, police officer was suspended after a former astronaut accused him of twisting her wrist and slamming her to the ground during a traffic stop. Mae Jemison, stopped for making an illegal turn, was arrested on an outstanding warrant for failing to pay an old speeding ticket. She complained about the arrest in a letter to the Nassau Bay Police Chief Robert Holden. “There is absolutely no justification for an officer to treat the people he is sworn to protect in this highhanded and abusive manner,” she wrote. Jemison, who flew in shuttle Endeavour’s 1992 mission, was the first black woman to fly in space.