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

It depends on the cop. There´s a police station near my house, I can even see part of it now looking out the window.
It´s like 400m or so. Once upon a time I was driving out of my garage and towards the police station. Theres a 30km/h zone there and while I slowed down, a police officer backed out from their parking space and started to accelerate slowly towards me. At this point I noticed I forgot to take my seatbelt on because I opened it again shortly before driving out to lean into the codrivers footspace to grab my glases that fell down.

So we come into distance where you can see into the car without a problem and I noticed "# my seatbelt".
I looked him in the eye while reaching over my shoulder to grab the belt and noticed he also does not have his seatbelt on. He looked back, kind of thinking the same, grabbing over his shoulder and grinned back, showing teeth. I grinned back, nodded my head, smiled even more, greet him and we both went on with our stuff that day.

How would that have played out in the USA?

a reply to: FraggleRock

Cops are far more likely to pull you over if you make eye contact. Its kinda an admission of guilt type of thing.

no excuse but I read that somewhere....

a reply to: JDmOKI

Not necessarily. Maybe the driver wants to look if his cop-buddy is in the car to greet him? It only then becomes suspicious when you expect the ordinary guy to be a criminal. But I get what you mean.

I read a handbook that was published some years ago about traffic stops and what they look after.
For example, they will ask you for the "vehicle registration document".

Now that needs some explaining:
You have the "vehicle registration document". Whoever has this piece of paper is the legitimate owner, you never leave it in your car of cours. Then you have the "vehicle registration", a cheaper piece of paper that has the data like weight,width etc on it. Big difference.

So they ask for the "wrong" paper and if you do not correct them that this is just the "vehicle registration" -> suspicious. While you search for it, they will surveil how you act. Now comes the dirty trick. Ask them for the time.
If they stop searching (because they want to be a good citizen and tell them the time) and they do not resume to search for the papers immidiatly, you show signs of drug usage.
If you search along but forget to tell them the time, it´s signs of drug usage.
They will ask you if you are okay with some stupid test like standing on one foot, eyes closes, hands outside, head up (mostly against the sun...) and count to 30 silently.
Time difference to much -> signs of drug usage
Shaky hands -> drug usage
Eyes do not focus immidiatly after opening -> signs of drug usage

They will ask you if you´ve been into any kind of drugs.
If you tell them yes, I drink alcohol sometimes, you´re a hippi because alcohol is not a drug (bavarian police).
If you tell them no, they will press you into a urine sample test ("What do you have to loose"). If you decline(it´s not mandatory), they will take you to the police station and take blood. If the test is negative you´re free to go. If you´re clean and the doctor attests you no signs of drug usage, you can sue the crap out of them. If it´s positive and you did not take the urine test, you pay a huge amount of money for the bloodtest.

EDIT
I forgot: In the book it states that there is a risk being sued but that´s something not wide known in public. It´s along those lines:
If they show any signs, be it the slightest talking them into a urine test is the first goal, if they decline, play the "then we take blood. But if the test is positive, you pay it and it´s not cheap". So most do the urine test. Of course, if the urine test is positive, they will take blood anyways. So that´s how they talk you into pissing into that cup.
EDIT

Of course, they need a reason for coming up with those tests. If they realy want to mess with you, they will say either:
held no eyecontact or held eyecontact in a suspicious manner, suspicious smell etc.

That´s the only reason I know where eyecontact could be called suspicious, but not "on the fly".

BTW, I greet every officer coming along my way and never had any problems with it. Sometimes I greet them while nodding my hat and call them "sherrif!" (we do not have sherrifs here but they do understand you greet them with respect but also on the human level). Only once I´ve been stopped after I held eyecontact(as far as I can tell), he turned around on the road and flashed his highbeams to ask me where my license plate at the front is. That was because someone must have removed it because the frame was closed but the plate was missing. So I´m saying it was not the eyecontact in this case.

originally posted by: rollanotherone
a reply to: WeAreAWAKE

No, but making up reasons to find a reason is wrong.

Correction...found a legitimate reason to stop them probably because he thought they acted suspicious staring at him. Where is the harm in that? If I walk by someone and they are staring at me...I'll think there is an issue also.

originally posted by: rebelv
a reply to: FraggleRock

Wow, so now making eye contact with a police officer is
a probable cause to be pulled over?

That is even IF he made eye contact, the guy seemed shocked
and even said, "What-- I never even saw you"

Great post

Rebel 5

Geeeeez. So a cop walks down the street and a guy sees him and runs. There is no "reason" for the cop to chase him, but if the cop didn't chase him...he isn't doing his job in my opinion. It is called acting suspicious. Running, hiding, staring, etc.

a reply to: WeAreAWAKE
It depends on culture. In german culture you are expected to look someone in the eyes while talking. Egyptians on the other side find it offending and talk to a imaginary point near your ears.
But if you feel there is an issue just because someone looks at you while walking by, you either are to much in alpha-dog-mode or insecure. Maybe the person is wondering if he knows you. Maybe they think they saw you somewhere some time ago. Thousand reasons.

Looking someone in the eyes is not the same as running away.

I used to work 2nd shift at Chrysler in Dayton. Chrysler was located by a "bad neighborhood" that I would have to drive through to get to the highway to go home. One night after working over, I was going home around 1am. I had just bought a new/used sports car. As I drove through the "bad neighborhood" I saw the lights flashing behind me. I knew I hadn't done anything wrong, but you know how it is when you're young and get pulled over, I was scared. I rolled down my window and prepared to hear whatever this cop was going to make up for pulling me over. Actually there were 2 cops and they both approached my car in a very cautious manner on either side. Flashlights in hand on the left shoulder, and the right hand prepared by the holster. The cop gets up to where he can see me, and his first response was, "Oh." I didn't really think about that until later. He then asks why I was in the apartments over there, and points in a direction I didn't come from. For clarity, I asked, "What?" He said they watched me come out of those apartments and wanted to know why I was there. I told him I didn't come from there. I told him I was going home from work and that I work 2nd shift at Chrysler and pointed back a different direction. Both the cops at this point were blinding me from both sides with their flashlights. Then the mood got really friendly. Actually the mood seemed way less tense when he came around the car and said, "Oh." He then tried to joke with me about how nice my new car was and blah, blah, blah, and they were just checking out the situation. He told me to have a nice evening and let me go on my way.

As I drove home, I couldn't figure out why they pulled me over and why he said I was coming out of those apartments when I hadn't even been on that street. Then I thought abut his reaction upon seeing me and saying "oh." It took me a while but I finally pieced it all together. They thought I was black. They were just making up a reason to pull me over. His reaction of "oh" was because that was when his flashlight hit me and saw I was white. It was at that point that his knees went from bent in ready position to much straighter and relaxed. His right hand then went from being ready by his holster, to relaxed also. His voice went from commands to just talking after I explained I just got off work. I was also wearing a head bandana because I had longer hair then and it would get hot in the factory. Then when I got home, I also noticed that I had put my basketball up in the back window of my hatchback. Nice car, 1am, head bandana, basketball visible ... I knew then that I had been racially profiled, incorrectly, but racially profiled none the less. It made me wonder how different the situation would have been had I been black.

originally posted by: WeAreAWAKE

originally posted by: rebelv
a reply to: FraggleRock

Wow, so now making eye contact with a police officer is
a probable cause to be pulled over?

That is even IF he made eye contact, the guy seemed shocked
and even said, "What-- I never even saw you"

Great post

Rebel 5

Geeeeez. So a cop walks down the street and a guy sees him and runs. There is no "reason" for the cop to chase him, but if the cop didn't chase him...he isn't doing his job in my opinion. It is called acting suspicious. Running, hiding, staring, etc.

I don't think this story involved anyone running away,
he was driving down the street and when the cop turned
his lights on he pulled over. The cop said it was for not
signaling 100 feet before making a lane change.

That's a b.s. pull over-- In California (where I live) you aren't
even required by law to signal at all, only that your lane change is safe.

It was the cop who intimated that "the real" reason he was pulled over
was because he made eye contact with the cop (allegedly) sometime
earlier as the cop passed him.

I agree, if a cop looks at YOU, and you run away, that's suspicious,
but now I have to worry about making eye contact with a cop
is suspicious??

Really, that's gangster mentality "oh, you're mad-dogging me"
Bull Sh%$

IMO

Rebel 5