Have you ever been a victim of police misconduct?

[stevenleser]

25. I was 17 years old. I was living in Long Island and a senior in H.S. and commuting to the city for

work.

I had arranged my senior schedule so I had classes the first 4-5 periods and then was off. I would then either drive or take the LIRR 1 hour into Manhattan, work a 3-11 shift or 4-midnight shift at the front desk of a hotel, then reverse the commute late at night.

One night I had worked a couple of extra hours and was driving home at 2:30am. I began to get drowsy, and, having just taken drivers ed a few months earlier, I knew that the right thing to do was pull over, take a nap and then continue driving when you were not so tired. So I took an exit off of the LIE., drove into a neighborhood, parked on a block and reclined the seat and took a nap.

I was awoken by the noise of someone banging on the car. I raised up my seat, looked into the rear view mirror and saw two police cars behind me. I lowered the window and asked whether something was wrong.

I was told to get out of the car. The police looked at me (I was in a suit since I worked at the front desk of a hotel). The police said they were called because of reports that a shady character was parked in front of someone's house. I took a look around and it became obvious I had inadvertently parked in a very upscale neighborhood. The police told me I had to leave. I was still extremely tired and told them I was worried I was too tired to drive. They said they did not care, I had to leave.

I have always wondered if my skin were white whether I would have been treated that way.