Dayton Police Officer Pulls Over Black Man for Making Eye Contact.

originally posted by: dreamingawake
More often then not in some places this scenario might be the case of following someone to wait until they make a mistake. Officer thought eye contact was suspicious, a nervous reaction. Seems like only in smaller towns or if you know police in your city that it's safe to wave, nod or give eye contact.

originally posted by: theyknowwhoyouare
What does his race have to do with it?

I am white and have been pulled over for looking directly at a cop. He said it was suspicious.

I think the problem is that police find all poor people suspicious. Wouldn't have pulled him if he was riding in a limo I bet.

Yeah poor in a low income neighborhood sadly no matter what skin color you're already a suspect.

Except, the man in the OP's video isn't poor. He is educated, has a good paying job and a nice car...He's "guilty" of DWB (driving while black). It's a damn near felony to do that after dark in Ohio...

I look at cops all the time. IDGAF if they think it suspicious. I'll look at them driving by, in my rearview, whatever. I'll hard core stare 'em down if I want BECAUSE IT ISN'T AGAINST THE LAW TO FREAKING LOOK AT ANOTHER HUMAN BEING IN THE USA!!!!

Can't wait to GTFO of this state/part of the country. It sucks here.

We really are living in Orwell's World (1984) these days, aren't we??

I am a white female and every time I make eye contact I am pulled over. Every time.

According to a somewhat older black friend of mine, "reckless eyeballing" was an actual offense for blacks in the Jim Crow era.
a reply to: FraggleRock

originally posted by: Kangaruex4Ewe
a reply to: odzeandennz

It's not just black people. Did you not read above? I have been harassed and I am a white female. They don't like anyone who is different, they especially don't like anyone who questions the status quo or challenges their authority.

Concentrating on one specific group of people might fix problems (eventually) for that group but the problems need to be fixed for EVERYONE.

yea, I'm sure statistically, your struggle is real.
take away your tats and piercing, your struggle is still real.... right? or wrong?

/....yea right

originally posted by: Woodcarver
a reply to: FraggleRock

Well, the cop says it plain as day. He tailed him for making direct eye contact, and then pulls the driver over for not turning his signal on 100ft before he made a turn. He literally followed the driver for several miles and waited on him to make any mistake to pull him over. When the driver doesn't make any mistakes, the cop gets frustrated and just makes some # up.

I hope the cop gets fired. But he won't. Business as usual.

I think a lot of people are scared to death when they are in the proximity of a black person.

Don't you know, we're all as athletic as Lebron James, hit as hard as Mike Tyson, are as belligerent as a Samuel L. Jackson character, are as fast as Usain Bolt, and live exactly like you hear in a hardcore rap album. Oh, plus we're equally good with guns & the ladies, just like Shaft.

I actually had a conservative female friend tell me that many of them see us as powerful animals, kind of like a tiger. They love tigers as entertainment, in video clips, in a circus, in cartoons, on posters, and in movies. But if a tiger was walking in their neighborhood by itself, they'd freak out.

originally posted by: odzeandennz

originally posted by: Kangaruex4Ewe
a reply to: odzeandennz

It's not just black people. Did you not read above? I have been harassed and I am a white female. They don't like anyone who is different, they especially don't like anyone who questions the status quo or challenges their authority.

Concentrating on one specific group of people might fix problems (eventually) for that group but the problems need to be fixed for EVERYONE.

yea, I'm sure statistically, your struggle is real.
take away your tats and piercing, your struggle is still real.... right? or wrong?

/....yea right

So I deserve it? Odd how we can pick and choose whose "struggle" is real, whose isn't, who deserves to struggle, who doesn't, etc.

I don't think I equated myself with any minority in the mistreatment department, but I have been mistreated. I suppose as long as there are varying degrees of mistreatment it's ok. While you are ok'ing some mistreatment based on other things, then the mistreatment does what it's doing now.

It spreads like the plague.

So wear your sarcasm like a badge of honor and when the mistreatment reaches your front door it will be because it was condoned for others regardless of the reason.

Come to think of it, I think this line of thinking may be exactly why the police are so out of control now.

You know there was a time not long ago where no one thought that black people's "struggle" was real either. Go figure.

This story is depressing as hell. Driving whilst black again. What a horrible heinous crime! Is it just me or are the police in the US morphing into just another gang?

a reply to: AngryCymraeg

Growing up and still residing in the south, my mom used to use the phrase "Too Big For Your Britches" when we thought as children we were going to act grown, mouth off, forget where we came from, forget how we were raised, forget that she could give us an arse whooping, thought too much of ourselves, etc. I still use the phrase today myself and it fits this occasion to a T. These policemen have been given so much free reign and have gotten by with so much that they have in essence become "Too Big For Their Britches".

They've become brazen. They've forgotten that they are supposed to serve and protect. They've begun to look at the citizens as enemies that need to be kept in check at all times. They've forgotten that they are a part of the community and as such they are supposed to strengthen it instead of divide and conquer it. They have forgotten that children should feel safe when they see them instead of afraid. They have forgotten what honor, integrity, empathy, and kindness are and they have replaced all of that with unyielding authority, disrespect, disgust, power trips, and good old boy clubs.

It's upside down and inside out at this point. The house needs to be cleaned. The trash needs to be thrown out and the policemen who remember why they wanted the job to begin with and what that oath they took meant need to step up and start over.

We need a reset button and we need it soon.

a reply to: FraggleRock

a reply to: Kangaruex4Ewe

The thing is, they were always like that to us. Do some research into the "Slave Patrols" and the atrocities they committed to runaway slaves, free black people, and anyone else they crossed. Then look into the "Fugitive Slave Act" and the abuses that law enforcement carried out under it. Even free blacks had to worry about a "papers please" policy long before the Nazis existed. And both of these situations were before the American Civil War.

Then look into the "Black Codes" and the way they were enforced (right after the Civil War ended). It was literally a crime for 2 or more black people to congregate in public. Today's loitering laws have roots in this policy. And a white person would be jailed if he/she was caught teaching black people how to better our conditions (usually the 2nd offense carried the death penalty). It was also a crime to teach us how to read.

Then look at how law enforcement treated us during the Jim Crow era/Segregation era. Black people couldn't even testify in court against a white person, much less against a white police officer. And don't forget J Edgar Hoover's constant oppression of black communities, from Marcus Garvey to Dr MLK & the Black Panthers. Just google search "lynching postcards" to see how unafraid people were of lynching us. They would pose for group pictures with the dead bodies, knowing they'd never get prosecuted for it.

In comparison, today's police are much kinder than they used to be. That's the scary part. They've literally always treated us this way or worse. And today's "Stop & Frisk", "Broken Windows", and "Jump Outs" policies give legal justifications for them to continue doing this crap.

originally posted by: theyknowwhoyouare
What does his race have to do with it?

I am white and have been pulled over for looking directly at a cop. He said it was suspicious.

I think the problem is that police find all poor people suspicious. Wouldn't have pulled him if he was riding in a limo I bet.

This is true. I'm sorry it just is. When I was younger, driving my crappy little blue Nissan with the trick back door, or that death-trap ford bronco, I sure wouldn't look them in the eye. I would get pulled over and hassled.

Now, 40k (bright-red-you-know-they-see-me) truck, I'll look 'em in the eye and wave at 'em, and sometimes they'll even wave back: Go about your business middle class woman. We're here to serve and protect.

It's crazy and sad.

I think race is a factor in some circumstances, even a big factor, but poverty is more of one overall.

So sick of crybabies that are so quick to make everything about racism.

a reply to: Woodcarver

I think a lot of people are scared to death when they are in the proximity of a black person.

I am completely comfortable in the proximity of any person of different color/race/religion.....it's being around cops that make me nervous. A while back, I wrote an OP about my wife being followed for about 15 miles, over a convoluted route she has to take to work. He followed her for about 10 miles on the highway, then another 3- 4 miles through town. She has to get off at a certain off ramp, through 3 stop lights and then 3 more different turns on different streets. He only went his own way when she pulled in to the hospital parking lot. I got all kinds of reasons, but none seemed legitimate.

I live in Albuquerque, NM USA. A city with hardly any racism what so ever. We have more Native Americans than black people. I think black folk only make up 3% of our population. I can go days without seeing an actual real black person.

With that said. The cops here do not give a damn what color you are. They will kill you. And they will get away with it.

a reply to: FraggleRock

I see copblock videos like this all the time, but with white people being harassed. Why do those not become big stories? Is it worse when it happens to a black person?

originally posted by: Dutchowl
So sick of crybabies that are so quick to make everything about racism.

What does this statement even mean? Facts be damned?

originally posted by: TheBulk
a reply to: FraggleRock

I see copblock videos like this all the time, but with white people being harassed. Why do those not become big stories? Is it worse when it happens to a black person?

No, the cops still get away with any criminal activity no matter the race of the victims.

originally posted by: Dutchowl
So sick of crybabies that are so quick to make everything about racism.

Did you watch the video in the OP? The cop says at the 1:24 mark that it was because the driver made direct eye contact with him & held that eye contact as he drove by. Those are the cop's own words.

And you think we're crybabies for calling attention to the bs that's going on right now?

originally posted by: Kangaruex4Ewe

originally posted by: odzeandennz

originally posted by: Kangaruex4Ewe
a reply to: odzeandennz

It's not just black people. Did you not read above? I have been harassed and I am a white female. They don't like anyone who is different, they especially don't like anyone who questions the status quo or challenges their authority.

Concentrating on one specific group of people might fix problems (eventually) for that group but the problems need to be fixed for EVERYONE.

yea, I'm sure statistically, your struggle is real.
take away your tats and piercing, your struggle is still real.... right? or wrong?

/....yea right

So I deserve it? Odd how we can pick and choose whose "struggle" is real, whose isn't, who deserves to struggle, who doesn't, etc.

I don't think I equated myself with any minority in the mistreatment department, but I have been mistreated. I suppose as long as there are varying degrees of mistreatment it's ok. While you are ok'ing some mistreatment based on other things, then the mistreatment does what it's doing now.

It spreads like the plague.

So wear your sarcasm like a badge of honor and when the mistreatment reaches your front door it will be because it was condoned for others regardless of the reason.

Come to think of it, I think this line of thinking may be exactly why the police are so out of control now.

You know there was a time not long ago where no one thought that black people's "struggle" was real either. Go figure.

a) don't put words in my mouth

b) don't compare your mistreatment for an 'emo appearance' with mistreatment associated with one's melatonin ( no control over that)

c) there is nothing that guy can do to change the way he looks

d) yes there are varying degrees of police mistreatment, yours pale in comparison. how is this man going live like, psychologically, what is he going to teach his children, or what sort of morality is he going to spread etc...


I'm sure your struggle is real...

your points fail .

its like saying a person with tats and piercings get odd looks at a parents teacher meeting, vs a person who gets a ticket while going to a parents teacher meeting for being black....
-you have piercing and tats you'll get odd looks, certain countries even frown upon them. but you wont get pulled over or a ticket....