Have you ever been a victim of police misconduct?

[pacalo]

17. Speed trap in a small town when I was in my twenties.

I was about 100 miles away from home, visiting a friend who was familiar with the town. We were on our way to the beach & she warned me before we entered the town to go slower than the speed limit, that the cops looked for out-of-town license plates. I followed her advice but, sure enough, a cop pulled out from nowhere & signaled me to stop.

When he began writing out the ticket, I told him my friend in the car lived in the area, that she warned me beforehand about the speed limit, & she suggested that I go lower than the speed limit -- which I did. The car in front of me was going the same speed as I was; I asked him why he didn't stop any of the cars in front of me. It angered him that I called him out, I guess, because the old geezer began raising his voice, telling me that he wasn't sitting out in the hot sun all day for nothing.

When he handed the ticket over to me to sign, I had a Lucy-in-BentforkTN moment & signed my name large, which made him really lose it. "That's it. Follow me to jail." Jail?! Now I was afraid.

He carried on at the station to a roomful of his fellow officers that I had been sassy to him. To my surprise, they were looking at him like he was behaving over-the-top & they seemed embarrassed by him; in fact, one of the officers seemed concerned about how I was doing & comforted me, asking where I was from, etc. I felt like they knew I was just another out-of-towner who was stopped because of it, yet no one spoke up when I was told that my driver's license would be kept there unless I paid the ticket.

The following Monday morning, I went to my area's sheriff's office on my lunch hour to report the incident to the sheriff. He was familiar with the town & knew about their reputation. He said he knew the sheriff there & that if I hadn't paid the ticket he could have done something for me, but he would make a call to the sheriff to report it.

As frustrated as I was at the unfairness of this experience & how it has stayed with me through the years, I'm mindful of how this incident pales in comparison to how people of color have been treated by the police. I had a small taste of what it feels like to be targeted & taken advantage of by someone who is empowered by a badge.