(RT) An image of two horse-mounted officers utilizing a rope to guide a handcuffed black man via the streets of Galveston, Texas, has been slammed as racist and evoking reminiscences of slavery. Police issued an apology.

Police Chief Vernon Hale confirmed that the officers clipped a “line” to Donald Neely’s handcuffs after he was arrested on a misdemeanor prison trespassing on Saturday.  They have been main the suspect to a mounted patrol unit staging space.

The picture ignited outrage on-line after it went viral, with many drawing comparisons to racist photos and the period of slavery within the US. “Seems to be like they’re going to a slave public sale,” one Twitter person said.

“That is 2019 and never 1819,” James Douglas, president of Houston’s NAACP chapter instructed the Houston Chronicle.

“Initially I need to apologize to Mister Neely for this pointless embarrassment,” Galveston Police Chief Vernon Hale mentioned in a press release. “Though this can be a skilled method and finest apply in some situations, I consider our officers confirmed poor judgement on this occasion and will have waited for a transport unit on the location of the arrest.”

Police mentioned the division has modified its coverage to stop it from occurring once more.

It mentioned the officers, recognized as P. Brosch and A. Smith, didn’t have malicious intent.

“All I do know is that these are two white law enforcement officials on horseback with a black man strolling him down the road with a rope tied to the handcuffs, and that doesn’t make sense, interval,” Leon Phillips, president of the Galveston Coalition for Justice mentioned. Phillips steered that the officers might have stayed with the person and waited for a automobile, and known as on the police to finish the arrest method.

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