denisdman wrote:
Jorr, that is pretty much my feelings after watching it. The only thing that sticks in my head and bothers me is would that cop have pulled over a white couple? I worry about pretexts for pulling people over. We saw that happen in that case down in Texas where the local girl ended up killing herself in jail. She was pulled over for a lane changing signal violation. She was very combative with the cop as well.
It goes back to the distrust between cops and blacks.
Yeah, I don't know. I think he probably would have pulled over whoever it was slap-boxing in the car, especially after the passenger tried to get out at the light.
It kind of hits close to home for me because when I was a teenager I had a similar situation where a girlfriend and I were having a heated argument and a cop stuck his nose in and I told him to mind his own business. He got way more aggressive with me than the cop in that video did and I wasn't acting anywhere near as hysterical as that driver.
I'm always extra deferential at a traffic stop right up until I see the guy actually writing the citation. At that point there's no reason to kiss the guy's ass anymore. But I don't get nasty. He's still got a gun. I just get real short like, "Are we done here?"
My mom was always super aggressive and nasty whenever she got pulled over. She had a really shitty attitude. I asked her how she thought being an asshole to the cop was going to help her. She didn't care. I guess she couldn't control her emotions. I'm sure she probably wasn't hassled as much by cops in her life as a young black dude is. But she also didn't look like she could be a threat. I wish I was in the shape that guy in the video is in. And if I was in a tense situation with him, I'd be wary.
Here's what I don't get though. If it is so dangerous to be a black guy in a situation with the cops, why would you do everything possible to ratchet the tension up as much as possible? That guy clearly wasn't afraid of the cops. He was trying to make a point.
I like watching those videos where some guy knows every statute and municipal code and purposely goes to a roadblock to fuck with the cops. He rolls his window down a tiny crack and fishes his license throught it in a plastic bag. But I'd rather just be on my way as quickly as possible instead of teaching the law to some idiot cop.