'Police need to find a better way:' Officials want answers about black teen's traffic stop

[Judi Lynn]

Source: Louisville Courier-Journal

'Police need to find a better way:' Officials want answers about black teen's traffic stop
Andrew Wolfson, Louisville Courier Journal Published 6:46 a.m. ET April 5, 2019 | Updated 6:49 a.m. ET April 5, 2019



Louisville Metro Police Department bodycam footage of Tae-Ahn Lea during a stop on Aug. 9, 2018. Louisville Metro Police Department video


Councilwoman Jessica Green, who chairs the council’s public safety committee, said she has asked Louisville Metro Police Chief Steve Conrad to appear before Metro Council to answer questions about the stop of Tae-Ahn Lea and the department’s tactic of "hyper-policing" to fight violent crime in the West End.

Green, D-District 1, said the stop described in a Courier Journal story and viewed a million times on YouTube shows how Louisville residents are "hunted down because of the color of their skin and where they live."

Sadiqa Reynolds, president and CEO of the Louisville Urban League said when she watched the video with a group of black parents on spring break, "We found ourselves talking back to the video, holding back tears."



Read more: https://www.courier-journal.com/story/news/crime/2019/04/05/louisville-officials-want-answers-black-teen-traffic-stop-hyper-policing/3367475002/

---

Outrage at cops in Louisville after video shows teen being ‘hunted down’ because of the color of his skin
TANA GANEVA
05 APR 2019 AT 16:22 ET



Civic leaders in Louisville, Kentucky, expressed their outrage this week over a traffic stop during which a black teen was frisked and handcuffed for a minor traffic violation, reports the Louisville Journal-Courier.

“We understand the violence, we understand the drugs,” Sadiqa Reynolds, president and CEO of the Louisville Urban League, said. “But one fact remains, many of our children are innocent. Police need to find a better way.”

. . .

The Courier Journal reported the initial story. The clip of the teenager was viewed a million times on YouTube. As Green put it, the video is proof that black people in Louisville are “hunted down because of the color of their skin and where they live.”

Another Democratic lawmaker called for a stop to the stops but hedged in his criticism of the arresting officers because “they are doing what they are told to do.”ng what they are told to do.”


More:
https://www.rawstory.com/2019/04/outrage-cops-louisville-video-shows-teen-hunted-color-skin/?utm_source=push_notifications

[chowder66]

1. Police everywhere need to find a better way. nt

[cstanleytech]

2. Pulled over for simply doing a wide turn? Unless he almost hit someone or

it was in an area where a turn was not allowed then that's simply absurd.

[oldsoftie]

17. ANY excuse to pull you over. Especially if its late at night.

"you went over the line" is my favorite, because theres no way to prove you DIDNT.

[madaboutharry]

3. That police officer was engaging in some major Gaslighting towards the end

of the video. What a racist asshole. Hope he loses his job.

[tymorial]

5. He wont. Blue wall.

We need criminal justice reform across the board in this country

[FiveGoodMen]

4. "they are doing what they are told to do"

So were Hitler's people.

[Mr.Bill]

6. As Paul Newman said in Cool Hand Luke:

Callin' it your job don't make it right, boss.

[MrScorpio]

7. Fuck the police.

ACAB.

[safeinOhio]

9. Biggest gang on the country....

So I was told by a cop.

[Guy Whitey Corngood]

19. "My attitude is shitty

My message to the censorship committee
Who's the biggest gang of n****s in the city?
The critics or the cops?
The courts or the crooks, don't look so confused
Take a closer look"

[unblock]

8. police can find a "legal" excuse to pull over nearly anyone.

i have been pulled over a couple of times for having one of those border thingies around my license plate. every car dealer puts those stupid things on and they always seem to barely obscure some portion of the plate, like the name of the state or the motto.

doesn't matter that the tag number itself is unobstructed, apparently (at least in new jersey and in connecticut), if even those other things are barely obscured, they can pull you over.

so if they see someone they want to pull over, they can just drive behind them. it's just a matter of time before you do something that's really not a problem but they can technically get away with pulling you over. not coming to an absolutely complete stop, or coming to a stop juuuuust over the stop line, or, as in this case, making a "wide" turn.

in practice, it's become obvious this crap is done disproportionately to minorities (doesn't apply in my case, though).

we need to do better, especially with the dangers involved even in "minor" traffic stops.

[Igel]

10. It's a way of saying, "We're watching."

Near where I live there's an intersection with a freeway. Major cross street, turn right onto feeder road, and almost immediately there's a freeway on-ramp. You need to quickly transition from a dedicated right-turn lane, across 3 lanes of traffic, and enter the on ramp.

I've been pulled over for failing to signal that I was changing lanes. And every time I should have noticed the car rubble at the intersection. When there are accidents, esp. fatalities, the police crack down on the source of the death.

Each time I simply put my wallet on the dashboard, get out the insurance information and place it next to the wallet, place my hands on the steering wheel, roll down the window, and wait for them to run my plates. Any passengers I explain that the police will be fairly courteous if you start off fairly courteous. Act like a defensive asshole, and you'll just be rude to another human being, and if you're rude to another human being they tend to have a hard time not being rude in return. The cop walks up, I hand them the things when asked--hands always in plain sight--and they seem to relax. I've taken precautions to avoid reasonable and plausible suspicions on their part.

Never had a problem. I've gotten tickets, but never had a problem with a rude cop or a cop that wasn't respectful.

This is what I was told to do when my father was helping me learn how to drive when I was 16. It was "the talk." Start by de-escalating the situation and allaying any concerns on the part of the cop, get through the transaction. Odds are the officer will be more lenient. Any non-leniency you deal with in court or just eat the fine.

I'm white. And 60.

The only tickets I've gotten were when I was a teen--in one case, the officer thought I looked dazed and high (yeah, studying for a vector calculus test while driving has that effect); in another, out joyriding with friends. The third was a real problem, I didn't have the updated insurance card and while the registration was valid the inspection sticker was 2 days expired. Showed that I was covered at the time at the county courthouse and the charges were dropped. Paid the fine for the expired inspection ticket.

[oldsoftie]

18. Same here. They look for any reason. And i have my arms hanging out when they approach!

Far out as i can get them!

[Jedi Guy]

20. Speaking as a former police dispatcher...

Traffic stops are the most nerve-wracking part of the job, according to the officers I was friends with. They have no idea who's in the car. Could be a sweet little old lady, could be a panic-stricken meth dealer with a few pounds in the trunk. It's a roll of the dice.

I had two officers pull a guy over once. I noted their location, checked them out on the stop, and ran the plate. It came back totally clean, nothing untoward. Ten seconds later, the guy simply got out of the car and started shooting. They ended up killing him. I never found out if they determined why the guy opened fire.

The best thing you can do on a traffic stop is exactly what you described: keep calm, have your docs ready, no sudden movements, etc. If the cop perceives that you're doing what you can to put him/her at ease, a good outcome is much more probable.

[GitRDun]

11. He should have told the cop

If he was white he wouldn’t be standing there in cuffs.

[NurseJackie]

12. I can't watch. I assume he's dead now?

[flying-skeleton]

13. RACIST COPS - What's New !!!!

[flying-skeleton]

14. Dumb Ass Cop handcuffed him but .....

.... said he wasn't under arrest !!!
ILLEGAL AS SHIT !!!!
SUE HIS ASS !!!!

[Jedi Guy]

21. They can cuff you without arresting you.

Instead of being arrested, you're just being detained. Totally legal, at least as far as I know. But then, I'm not a lawyer.

[ET Awful]

22. That is incorrect. Courts have held that police may handcuff someone who is not under arrest.

You may not like it (and neither do I), but it is not grounds for a lawsuit and it is legal.

The act of putting someone in handcuffs does not necessarily mean they are in custody or under arrest.

"In United States v. Bautista, the U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit noted that handcuffing a suspect does not necessarily dictate a finding of custody for purposes of Miranda but was a reasonable measure to ensure the safety of the officer or the public."

https://leb.fbi.gov/articles/legal-digest/legal-digest--when-does-handcuffing-constitute-custody-for-purposes-of-miranda

So no, it is not illegal, and no, it is not grounds to sue.

Now, if it can be proven that racial profiling was the cause for the original stop, that may constitute grounds for a lawsuit, but the act of handcuffing someone is not in and of itself grounds.

[IcyPeas]

16. "officers...were trying to goad Lea and his mother... into doing something more extreme"

Lea was stopped about a month before police pulled over the Rev. Kevin Cosby, senior pastor of St. Stephen Church, for an alleged traffic violation that he claimed was racially motivated.

Conrad announced last month that an investigation found Cosby was not racially profiled.

In an interview Thursday, Cosby, who is also president of historically black Simmons College of Kentucky, said watching the video of Lea's stop was like "déjà vu."

He said the stop and search showed "how an entire community is profiled" and that it "tragic how tax money is used to harass people."

He also said it appeared that officers in the stop were trying to goad Lea and his mother, Tija Jackson, into doing something more extreme.

(bold mine)

watching this entire video I got the same feeling -- that the cop was trying to goad them into something.

[Sapient Donkey]

23. The attitudes and tone of those cops is infuriating

It's bad enough that they pulled this kid over did all they did over a wide turn, but their tone just adds salt to the wound. Really does show how those cops view citizens they are supposedly there to protect. Are they really that confused as to why someone would be upset with them over being pulled out of their vehicle and searched because of what they claim was a wide turn? The way they act as if he is wrong for being annoyed is insane.

[flying rabbit]

24. Fucking sad. nt

[Demovictory9]

25. K&r