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There was no reason to ask for her name and date of birth and then call it in to dispatch for a background check.
It is an abuse of power to detain a pedestrian and call in for a background check when they are not suspected in any crime.
Her only embellishment was that they sounded their siren - but she had earbuds on an some sound made her turn around. The police concede they turned on their emergency lights.
Katzpaw, she broke the law.
There are laws here (I live in the area) against
impeding traffic
walking in the road (where there is a sidewalk)
jay walking.
The Chief of Police pointed out that she did in fact break the law by impeding traffic.
If you break the law, you will be asked for your identification and the police will run that.
To this particular case, they had the right to write her a citation for the violation. They did not. They were quite kind to the lady.
again, while it is not illegal to walk in the street, as far as i know, it is illegal to impede traffic, even if it is one vehicle that you didnt see. second, the officers didnt tell her she couldnt run in the street, they actually told her that it is SAFER to run facing traffic, rather than have traffic behind her.
contrary to popular opinion these days, cops do a lot of things by procedure, regardless of skin color. now your two might agree with ms bland that this was a racial thing, but the reality is that it wasnt, if these cops were truly racist and doing it just to hassle her, they would probably have written her a ticket for impeding traffic instead of letting her go on her way.
agree....
some years ago, I had an elderly neighbor get lost. she couldn't find her home and she didn't speak English very well. I got her in my car and we drove around until we found where she lived (she was living with her daughter and was new to the area).
When we got there, there was a police officer at these peoples home because she had been reported missing.
The police officer came over to me and was very nice and very professional.... asked me a number of questions. asked me for my identification. ran my info.
I am a white guy living in a white suburb in TEXAS. The police officer was very professional and was doing his job. I was also very polite and we had a nice conversation.
Police do what they do because as you point out procedure dictates what they do.
Originally Posted by katzpaw
Allegedly the cops saw a truck almost hit her - but the video starts after this alleged incident when the cops are far behind her.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Elle2015
That should be noted by the officials because it certainly would explain things. The fact that this info has not been widely reported on makes me question it's validity.
You must not have watched the video (same for those that claim the Officers didn't say anything about the sidewalk) - the video shows that the Officers DID tell her about the Truck and DID suggest that she walk on the sidewalk.
The Officers actually showed great restraint - it's against the Law in Texas to walk in the street when a sidewalk is available. It is also against the Law in Texas to walk with the Traffic, you are required by Law to walk against the Traffic - it's a State Law and I was made aware of it when walking to school down a road with no sidewalk back in the 1950's.
The Officers talked to her about Safety - neither one of them told her she was breaking 2 Laws.
Bland is an idiot out looking for problems - when a person is absolutely determined to search out/fabricate a grievance ..... they will usually be successful. She has no business being a Dean of anything, much less Journalism. She fabricated a news event as a "Dean of Journalism" and then she was proven wrong. She even managed to be judged "false" by SNOPES.
Just watched the beginning of the video. I didn't see any racism. And the coppers were polite. And the prof. was polite.
BUT, I see no reason for the coppers to request the prof's. ID and name and dob. Just tell her that she should walk on the sidewalk as walking in the street is dangerous.
How about what the law requires to dispel the charge of walking while black? Which is what she wound up claiming. Bet she hates video tape now.
What's most disturbing to me is that Bland's "op-ed" in the Dallas Morning News involves multiple ethical and procedural violations of rules that are taught to first year journalism students.
She owes an apologiy to the police involved, a retraction to the readers of her story and most of all her resignation as Dean. UNT journalism students deserve better leadership.
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