In a day and age where being a black motorist is enough to get you pulled over, it’s getting even more bizarre for the reasons behind these stops. While being a police officer is a noble and dangerous profession, can we please stop pretending that “every” police officer is infallible.
Motorist John Felton knows all too well that this is not true. It all started a few weeks ago when Felton, who was driving his vehicle with Michigan plates, was pulled over by a police officer from the Dayton, Ohio, police department. At the beginning of the video, recorded by Felton, himself, Felton is told he was being pulled over for not signaling for a turn 100-feet beforehand.
As the officer leaves with Felton’s information, Felton addresses the camera by saying:
“He followed me for almost two miles, then when I get to my mom’s house, he want’s to put on his lights. I’m keeping this b***h recording. He ain’t about to Sandra Bland me.”
This statement was in reference to the case of Sandra Bland, who was found dead on July 13 of this year while in police custody in Texas. With tension continually rising between the black community and police officers regarding certain procedures, profiling, and in too many cases, shootings, it is stops like these that become downright ridiculous.
It’s ridiculous because as the video goes on, Mr. Felton continues to respectfully question the officer as to why he followed him for so long. The still unnamed police officer finally answers by saying:
“Because you made direct eye contact with me and then held on to it while I was passing you.”
Yes, it seems to some police officers, prolonged eye contact is now “suspicious” behavior. While the matter is far from resolved, according to The Washington Post:
“Felton has been in contact with authorities, the city noted in a statement issued Friday, and has ‘agreed to a conversation’ with the officer, which will be ‘facilitated’ by a local mediation center.”
Luckily for Mr. Felto, he drove away unscathed in the video. That’s more than can be said about too many other interactions lately between black citizens and certain police officers. Tell me again how racism is a thing of the past and there’s no such thing as white privilege. I know many will, but unaltered video does not lie.
Featured image via YouTube screen capture
