A Las Vegas police union is calling for a Black judge to resign for giving cautionary advice about police to a defendant in court who is a Black man.

The controversy began after a video circulated of Clark County District Court Judge Erika Ballou making comments on the bench to the defendant on Monday.  

In the video, she says, in part:

“You’re the one making the decisions not to walk away from cops. You’re a Black man in America. You know you don’t want to be nowhere where cops are… You know you don’t want to be nowhere where cops are cause I know I don’t, and I’m a middle-aged, middle-class Black woman. I don’t want to be around where the cops are because I don’t know if I’m going to walk away alive or not.”

Ballou became a judge in January of 2021.

She was previously a public defender and social justice organizer. During her time as a public defender l, Ballou was criticized for wearing a “Black Lives Matter” pin to court.

In 2016, Ballou made national headlines after she refused to remove the BLM pin a judge ordered her to take off.

More about the police union calling for her resignation can be found here.