Is the story of "Judge Keisha Williams" exposing an "officer Martinez" for violently assaulting her and making racist remarks in the courthouse before she turns the tables on him real? No, that's not true: The story promoted by a Facebook page run from Vietnam contains several verifiably false details while lacking information about place and time. The video that accompanied the story also shows glitches typical of AI-generated content.
The story appeared in an undated article (archived here) published on a website named "Most Viral Story!" under the headline "Cops Slapped a Black Woman in Court, Seconds Later, She Took the Judges Seat". It opened:
Judge Keisha Williams approached the courthouse early one morning dressed in civilian clothes, carrying a briefcase filled with case files. To anyone passing by, she looked like another professional on her way to work. But to Officer Martinez, posted at the steps, she was nothing more than a target for his contempt. "Another ghetto rat trying to sneak in," he muttered before blocking her path. Without hesitation, his open palm cracked across her face so hard her head snapped sideways. Her briefcase hit the ground, scattering documents across the stone steps. Martinez grabbed her by the throat, slammed her against the wall, and hissed, "Filthy animals like you belong in cages, not courthouses." Then he twisted her arms behind her back and cuffed her as nearby officers laughed and recorded on their phones.
It was promoted in a Facebook post (archived here) that also contained a video of the purported events:
This is what the thumbnail of the video in the post looked like:
(Image source: Dr. Tom Facebook page post.)
The Facebook account that posted the story appears to be run from Vietnam according to the page transparency tab (archived here):
(Image source: Dr. Tom Facebook page page transparency tab.)
The video in the Facebook post contained several odd glitches typical of AI-generated content, such as the hands of two of the officers weirdly blending together and a ghostly piece of paper appearing behind the shoulder of the woman. The officer also seemed to be holding some kind of zip-tie despite the woman's arms being crossed in front of her body.
(Image source: screen recording of video in Dr. Tom Facebook page post.)
In another glitch a man in the background seems to absorb some kind of red banner or arrow into his ear as he stands filming the events:
(Image source: screen recording of video in Dr. Tom Facebook page post.)
The writing on the courthouse wall in the video also showed garbled lettering often seen in AI-generated content:
(Image source: screenshot of video in Dr. Tom Facebook page post.)
The ending of the story claimed:
Judge Williams became a national figure, invited to speak at universities and legal conferences. Her courthouse was renamed in her honor, a plaque at the entrance declaring, "Here, justice finally found its voice." The viral footage of her reclaiming the bench became a symbol of courage against corruption, viewed by millions worldwide.
However a Google search for the phrase "Here, justice finally found its voice" did not return any results other than recent copies of the same story (archived here) and a Google Maps search for "Keisha Williams" only returned a doctor's office with that name (archived here) and no courthouse.
