Here are a few times that I had not so pleasant encounters with law enforcement.
Cops rushed me on the block
I was sitting outside with a bunch of my friends. Out of nowhere, an unmarked police vehicle pulled up, and everyone scattered running. Since I knew they weren’t there for me, I saw no need to run and just stood there observing as everyone left.
Next thing I knew, the officers were running in my direction, so I looked around trying to see who they were running toward. Suddenly, they were on top of me, grabbed me, and threw me against the wall. They patted me down and asked if I had any drugs or weapons. I said no and told them I didn’t know why they were checking me.
They found nothing, told me to stay out of trouble, returned to their vehicles, and drove off. After that, all my friends who had scattered came out and started laughing at me. Some of them even grabbed me and threw me against the wall jokingly, “You got any weapons on you, boy?”
Cops accused me of being a drug dealer
I was on the way home from school. I was a college student at this point and dressed fairly professionally. On the way back, I ran into some of my buddies and stopped at the corner to chat with them. Out of nowhere, I heard a siren, and by this point I knew that whether or not I was involved with anything, I was about to end up facing the wall.
That’s exactly how it went down. My friends and I were against the wall, and they paid special attention to me, the white guy wearing a tie. In their eyes, I didn’t belong. They pulled me aside and asked me all kinds of questions. One of them suggested that I was delivering drugs for the local gangs. I told them I lived here, that I was dressed this way because I was coming home from school, and these were my friends; none of us are drug dealers.
After seeing my college ID, they said I was free to go but left me with these words: “You shouldn’t be standing out on the corner like this; it gives us the wrong impression. Get out of here before I change my mind.”
Officer used offensive language during a gang fight
I was involved in a gang fight. The opposing faction outnumbered us after a quick scuffle, so we ran for the subway. I jumped the turnstile, and a cop came out from a nearby room and said, “Don’t run, boy.” He took me and a friend into the back room and was asking his partner if he should arrest us.
After some back and forth, and because I cooperated with him, he ended up just giving me a ticket. Before letting us go, he saw that the opposing group caught up with the remainder of my friends and said, “Hey, some people are about to get into it with your friends. You want to go help them?” I asked if he wasn’t going to step in before things escalated. He said no, they would let it play out and then deal with whoever came out on top.
At that point, one of them pulled out a gun, and the officers ran out yelling “Police, freeze.” Everyone scattered, and my friends didn’t get hurt. All things considered, I was lucky to get away with just a ticket, and they were lucky they weren’t caught in a worse situation.
Officer confronted me for being near their cars
I was walking home and passed by the precinct near my block. An officer ran out and grabbed me, threw me up against a car, and asked, “Do you have any tools on you? Anything you can poke me with?” I responded that I did not and was just walking home. “Do you want to go into the precinct?” I said no, why would I want to do that? This officer seemed ready to escalate things and was looking for a reason. “You have a lot of pockets; are you sure you aren’t here stealing car parts?” Near a precinct? He looked at me like he was not happy and told me to get away from their cars.
This officer seemed uncomfortable with me simply walking through my own neighborhood, a neighborhood he was supposed to protect and serve. It was a neighborhood where he was relatively new. The area was heavily policed, and at times it felt as though residents were being treated as outsiders in their own community. There are broader conversations to be had about that dynamic, and what it means for the relationship between law enforcement and the communities they serve.
Officer flashed his flashlight in my face
My friends and I were driving to eat somewhere together when we got pulled over for a minor traffic infraction. The officers were generally respectful, except for one. For some reason, he came to the back where I was sitting and kept flashing his flashlight in my face. I made eye contact and nodded at him.
He must have felt challenged in some way because he kept staring at me with clear tension in his expression. Nothing was said, but the friction was obvious. His partner came over and guided him away, though that officer kept looking back at me the entire time. It seemed like he was looking for a reason to escalate things. After they left, my friends said, “What was that, Angel? That guy had it out for you big time. We’re lucky his partner pulled him away.” I said I noticed but wasn’t sure what the deal was. We shrugged and then carried on with our day.
Conclusion
I’ve been fortunate that most of my encounters with police have never escalated. Not everyone is that fortunate though, and we hear about difficult outcomes regularly. These were a few scenarios where, had I not handled things carefully or said or done the wrong thing, the results could have been very different. I’m sure many factors contributed to these outcomes, including my light complexion. I recognize that I have light skin privilege. But I’m also sure it doesn’t hurt that whenever I deal with the police, I remain extremely respectful. Even when I feel the situation is unfair and I feel frustrated, I always keep my composure, as I don’t think I could win that battle in the moment.
So would you share with us what your experiences with law enforcement have been like?
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