This is the Racial demographics of the city of 56,000 people I work in. I spend from 3 min to 4 minutes (2 minutes max on the actual streets itself, before the freeway or after the freeway) coming or going in this town. I rarely stop at the local gas stations. I am considered for the sake of race Black alone. On March 22nd at 06:45am I was leaving my place of employment. It was a Saturday Morning. Official Sun rise was at 06:54 am. I made a right turn out of my place of employment. I was in the right turning lane. I was soon joined by a police officer of this unnamed town to my drivers side middle lane. I was in the right lane, a White Alone person was in the left turning lane. As the officer reached side by side, I was not concerned about him. I have a driver license. I have proof of current registration. I have proof of current insurance. I was sitting at the red light (this particular intersection has a dedicated red light for right turn also) I then experienced something out of the sad Racial Profiling twilight zone. I noticed another police vehicle pull up directly behind me. But that was before the Officer in the middle lane, actually backed up from the stop. I thought that was very hazardous, because if he doesnt remember shifting the gear back to drive, he could run into the car that might come behind him. Then the tought hit me. He is backing up to potentially run my License plate. I thought, wow, what would be the reason? He had a white alone driver to his left. and a black alone person to his right. I know cops have the authority to run license plates at will. I was not concerned. When the light turned green, I went ahead and made a right turn. the minute I went forward and turned, I got hit with a red lights sirens. I pulled over. I had stop the car. The one cop who was directly behind me, approached the car. He recognized me from my place of employment. We at my place of had an law enforcement situation earlier in the year, where I had contact with this young officer. I asked him immediately what he was pulling me over for? He sad I was impeding traffic. I gave him my drivers license. I noticed the other officer standing on the passenger side of the car, one hand on his holstered gun, other had on the passenger door. The other officer told him him, he knew me, that I worked at the place where they were stopping me (literally right on the side of my place of employment) He then had a conversation outside of my earshot with the officer in back of my vehicle. I believed they were running my license for any criminal background or current warrants. He then after a few minutes, asked me for my registration and insurance. I immediately handed it to him. He then told me I could go. I asked him what was the reason they stopped me? He said once again Impeding traffic. I said it was a red light, I never turned at this intersection on a red light. I have been working with this place of employment for over 20 plus years. He then told me that at this intersection, you must turn on a red light. Then he also mention that he pulled me over also because the lights above my license plate were out. I went and looked immediately. The other officer and this point had left. I said, based on your vantage point, how could you see those lights? I had to bend down to see them, and they were not on. I did not have my lights on at this time. Sun rise had been 4/5ths so I didnt have my lights on. I did not get a ticket. I was confused by this very young officer telling me to make a right turn after a stop on a red light. I know this city has Red light Cameras and I do not want to risk being photographed. I also just heard that a teenager riding a bike was killed the very day before, in this city, by a car. I was so confused, and I was so angry about the probable cause excuse used the police to pull me over. I drove to a local veterans hospital in a near by city and called and spoke to the watch commander. He was very polite, and explained the process of filing a complaint about racial profiling (he said they take this type of complaint very seriously) I gave him all the details possible. I then 30 minutes later arrived at my auto mechanics shop. I asked them to check the lights above the license plate. I was told, to turn on the lights. My lights worked. I then called the watch commander back and the Auto Mechanic told him on the phone that the lights work. To me, It seems that the officer manufactured probable cause excuse (the lights and impeding traffic) to stop me, and it was based solely on racial profiling. This city has 689 blacks out of 56,000 people. It felt like I was in 1975, not 2014. I was mostly shocked that an officer would simple see my black skin, and back up. Nothing more could have been the reason. I was stopped in traffic. I had no music on. I was not giving him any attention. I didnt name this city, because I work and have a lot of contact with people all over the world in my place of employment. White alone - 26,543 (48.1%) Asian alone - 19,376 (35.1%) Hispanic - 6,930 (12.6%) Two or more races - 1,436 (2.6%) Black alone - 689 (1.2%) American Indian alone - 164 (0.3%) Other race alone - 40 (0.07%) Native Hawaiian and Other Pacific Islander alone - 31 (0.06%)
Posted on: Sun, 23 Mar 2014 09:06:06 +0000