In the wake of trumped up “racial incidents” such as Ferguson and Baltimore (Freddie Gray case), left-wing activists were front and center demanding that police be equipped with audio and video equipment. “Then we’ll see who the true criminals are,” was the idea. Well, more and more cops now have such equipment, and the truth is coming out:
Most accusations of racial abuse made against police are bunk.
I recently reported on the case of Professor Minati Roychoudhuri, who was arrested last month after a traffic-stop audio recording proved that racial-profiling charges she leveled against a Connecticut state trooper were false. At about the same time it was revealed that another “respectable” individual — Democratic state representative Garnet Coleman — had also cried “racism” where none existed. As the Daily Caller wrote August 6:
During a House committee hearing last week to discuss the recent arrest of Sandra Bland in Waller County, Texas, Democrat chairman Garnet Coleman shared a story about a recent encounter with police in which he said the officer treated him “like a boy.”
“He talked to me like I was a child,” Coleman said, describing the July 14 traffic stop on Interstate 10 in Austin County. “He was so rude and nasty. Even when he found out I was a legislator, he became more rude and nasty. And I didn’t understand why this guy was continuing to go on and on and treat me like a child. And basically like I’m saying is treat me like a boy. I want to be very clear about that.”
Unfortunately for Coleman, the audio and video were far clearer. Despite his traveling 94 in a 75 zone — and having previously been let off with a warning after speeding last year in another county — the police sergeant let him off with a warning again. Through it all, the officer was polite (complete audio and video of their exchange below).
Of course, when the police let you off without a ticket, you can expect a short lecture in its place. In Coleman’s case, the officer said, “Stop speeding in a state car, OK? You got state plates on here, man. It’s a state official plate. You realize how bad that looks?” He made the point that it set a poor example for the public, and was certainly neighborly enough in his tone. Yet where most people would have been registering appreciation, Coleman can be seen in the video belaboring the point with the officer. Moreover, the politician would, again, later respond to the good turn by besmirching the sergeant’s reputation with an accusation of “racism.” Perhaps next time the officer ought to treat Coleman like a man — and issue him a ticket.
Then there was the incident a few days before in the Kansas City suburb of Lenexa. A man named John Sherman, described by writer Colin Flaherty as a “local activist,” claimed that the police had thrown to the ground a black man who “didn’t really … do anything.” And Sherman had his own video to prove it — a whole 30 seconds’ worth.
The police had video, too, however. It was a bit longer. It showed that after stopping the man for not wearing a seatbelt and discovering he had a suspended license and several outstanding arrest warrants, they attempted to place him in handcuffs. He then began struggling with one of the officers in an apparent attempt to flee, at which point they used proportionate force to subdue him (video below).
While Sherman also claimed he was told to stop filming or he’d be arrested, Flaherty reports that this was untrue as well; the cops merely instructed him to keep his distance in accordance with procedure.
Next there’s actress Taraji Henson, of Empire fame. Complaining about her 20-year-old son, Marcell, being stopped by police in Glendale, California, she told Uptown magazine last year, “My child has been racially profiled.” She claimed they “illegally” searched his car and that it was “bogus because they didn’t give him the ticket for what he was pulled over for.” The story made big news, prompting the Glendale Police to be barraged with complaints.
There was video, though, and it told a different story. Henson’s son had been stopped after failing to yield to a pedestrian at a crosswalk with a flashing yellow light. He was polite, but the officer was that and more — almost deferential in his tone. In fact, despite Marcell’s admission that he also had marijuana and unprescribed Ritalin in his car, the officer issued a ticket only for the pot, saying he wouldn’t give him a moving violation because “I’m helping you out” (video below).
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qHNLalsVGCU</span><span style="font-size: 12px;">
(Note: To see the moving violation instigating the stop, watch this video.)
It cannot be overemphasized that the officer almost seemed to be walking on eggshells with Marcell, exhibiting extreme permissiveness with the young man. As Flaherty wrote, “‘If you have Ritalin on you, and it is not prescribed to you, that is a big violation and I would not want to do that to you,’ said the cop before letting the star’s son go on his merry way — without even testing him to see if he was under the influence of pot or Ritalin.”
Taraji Henson did ultimately apologize for her false claim, although the damage of divisive racism charges can never be completely undone. Next time the officer might want to remember that she’d perhaps feel better if her son got “the ticket for what he was pulled over for.”
Then there was the white police officer responding to a “burglary in progress” at a fire station in Oakland, California, last year. Upon arriving on scene, in one of the nation’s most dangerous neighborhoods at 11 p.m., he finds the station door wide open and sees in the darkness three shadowy figures. What was he to think? So he shouts “Put your hands up!”
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pVvXN580e_8
In this case, however, the three people were an Oakland firefighter and his two young sons. As the fireman explained, someone must have left the door open when going out on a call, and the situation was quickly resolved. And that would have been the end of it, except, as Flaherty writes:
Soon after, the firefighter was describing his racist ordeal to local news. How the cop was rude. How the cop almost shot him and terrified his children and how the cop views all “black males as threats.”
The video tells a different story: Polite. Professional. And within minutes the officer had cleared up the situation. No threats of violence. No terror. Except for what the fireman instilled in his two young sons after the fact.
Lastly, there’s another story of an actress behaving badly. Daniele Watts from Django Unchained cried racism in 2014, claiming she was mistaken for a prostitute, humiliated, and mistreated by Los Angeles police merely because she was kissing her boyfriend. She took to Facebook to tell of her ordeal, and the ever-agitating media ate the politically correct story up. After all, white cop+alleged black victim=foregone conclusion. But as Flaherty reported:
The audio tape [in the video below] two days later put the lie to that: The cop was polite. Patient. Soft spoken. Watts was defiant and uncooperative and loud. “Do you know how many times police have been called because I am black,” she asked the cop, refusing to produce her ID.
“Thanks for playing the race card,” he replied. “I never hear that.”
Watts went on to threaten the cop with her dad, her publicist, her dying stepmom, and her studio.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VROQrDEenQY
In fact, Watts sounded very much like a spoiled brat, as she tried to leverage her celebrity status against the officer. Quite comically, she even exclaimed at 2:40 in the audio, “I know my rights…. I played a cop on TV!” Ultimately, photographs surfaced of Watts and her beau engaging in lewd conduct in their car— in broad daylight on a busy street. They subsequently pled guilty to disorderly conduct. Part of their sentence was that they had to write a letter of apology to the officer. But they were, apparently, unrepentant. As Flaherty also tells us, “In the letter, the couple said they were glad they were arrested because they drew attention to the problem of white racism in America.”
