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Related: Editorials & Other Articles, Issue Forums, Alliance Forums, Region ForumsHmmmmmmmmmmm - here we go again
http://www.bostonglobe.com/metro/2015/09/08/emerson-college-professor-wins-traffic-case-alleges-racial-bias-from-newton-police/f7Vbx2MJ1BD3QhioFjAmyI/story.html#comments<snip>
Newton police Officer Gregory Helms thought he saw a bald African-American man with glasses and a thick beard, but maybe he saw a smooth-faced African-American woman with a full head of hair.
In a strange case that played out in Newton District Court on Tuesday, the officer had cited Emerson College professor Jabari Asim for operating a vehicle without a valid license. But a clerk magistrate vacated the June citation and found that Helms probably cited Asims wife, Liana, a licensed driver who was simply running errands.
This occupied my mind and my time for three unnecessary months, Asim said after magistrate Larry Okstein made the ruling. How could they not see the difference?
After the hearing that involved a private attorney, more than 10 pieces of evidence, GPS records, and sworn affidavits, Asim, also an NAACP newspaper editor, alleged the citation was motivated out of implicit racial bias.
Asims prior claims of bias played a role in the dramatic traffic hearing in Courtroom 2, as the Police Department and Asims lawyer, Thomas D. Herman, presented differing accounts of what happened on June 22.
An Emerson professor received a citation for driving without a license, but said he was not in his car at the time.
The police, which called Helms as its only witness, used street cameras and introduced evidence to establish that a gray Nissan Quest registered to Asim was traveling in Newton at about 6:15 p.m.
By Helmss account, he noticed the driver giving a nervous look, so he ran the vehicles information through the state database. In minutes, Helms found that Asims license was denied/nonrenewable, so when the officers light changed, he looked for the vehicle to issue a citation.
For a black man, youre damned if you do and damned if you dont. If we look at the cop, its dangerous. If we look away from the cop, its dangerous. Its a double-edged sword.
Jabari Asim
When he was not able to locate the vehicle, Helms said he looked up Asims driving photograph and recognized the man as the driver. Helms sent a traffic citation to Asims home.
He had that beard, Helms said in court, referring to the Nissans driver and motioning to Asim.
However, according to the GPS on Asims cellphone, eyewitness statements from colleagues, and store receipts, Asim had spent the day at Emerson College. His wife, Liana, was driving through Newton.
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Technology is catching up with these LYING COP.
retrowire
(10,345 posts)either the hair was on top of the head or the bottom officer, make up your damn mind. Hahaha
malaise
(269,182 posts)Man these LIARS aren't even good at lying.
malaise
(269,182 posts)WTF????
Demeter
(85,373 posts)There is no honor in this profession any more, and damn few honorable cops.
Hassin Bin Sober
(26,343 posts)I could swear I just read a story the other day about a black guy getting pulled over because he made eye contact. It may have been a YouTube video or video from Photography is Not A Crime.
But yeah, damned if you do damned if you don't .
tblue37
(65,490 posts)A black Ohio man got a police officer to admit to him on video that he followed him for nearly two miles and pulled him over for making direct eye contact, talk show host David Pakman reported.
As suspicious as making direct eye contact may be to a police officer, doing the exact opposite that is, avoiding eye contact with a police officer could be considered equally suspicious by an officer, Pakman noted. In other words, both making eye contact and not making eye contact with police could, conceivably, be grounds for a traffic stop, if you agree with the general principle suggested herein.
(SNIP)
Enthusiast
(50,983 posts)hobbit709
(41,694 posts)modern technology proves the exact opposite.
Like that one in NYC recently where they charged the guy with DUI and resisting arrest while sitting in the passenger seat in a parked vehicle. After the cops swore that's how it went down, the lawyer introduced the video from the security camera from the building. OOPS! as Rick Perry said.
malaise
(269,182 posts)and then they blame the victims and those fighting against these atrocities.
GitRDun
(1,846 posts)This stuff needs to be kept in front of our faces until we finally get it.
Demeter
(85,373 posts)and their bosses and the city lawyers and the judges....
The people in power, abusing that power, and getting away with it.
we...as in white people.
This stuff happens like breathing...and where I live...most blame the victim.
saturnsring
(1,832 posts)Why isn't that post racist?
Demeter
(85,373 posts)the inferred responsibility of privileged people to act with generosity and nobility toward those less privileged.
Demeter
(85,373 posts)and a measure of just how broken our social network is.
True, minorities (black or Asian) are more easily identified as "safe targets" for abuse of power, but also the less prosperous, the less pretty, the isolated, the mentally or physically ill, the stranger, the non-English speaker...it doesn't really matter any more.
It's gotten noticeably worse in the past 50 years. The good effects of the 60's have worn off.
malaise
(269,182 posts)I think hegemony is the better concept.
There is less racism today than back in the 60s - we know more about it because of social media and access to way more information
-
Demeter
(85,373 posts)but it's still ugly out there.
Make no mistake about it, though, it's imperialism at home and abroad, although at home it's usually called fascism...but there's no difference, really.
Hegemony: leadership or dominance, especially by one country or social group over others.
"Germany was united under Prussian hegemony after 1871"
malaise
(269,182 posts)in terms of socio-economic, cultural and political dominance of all spheres by a social/racial/ethnic group over others. We disagree re it being fascism - not all imperialists are fascists.
Still you are correct that it is still ugly out there. The racists crawled out with Obama's two victories and social media provides a medium for them to spread hate. They were largely excluded from the main stream but the white supremacy fringe is way more visible these days and more than a few state employees are members of these groups.
I am actually surprised at how well Trump's racism is playing among these morons.
Demeter
(85,373 posts)Not quite property, not officially enslaved...more like self-propelling, future compost....
marmar
(77,091 posts)........ MADE eye contact with him, so he had to pull him over.
malaise
(269,182 posts)That's the behavior of fascists.
aidbo
(2,328 posts)because he wouldn't make eye contact with police.
Damned if you do, damned if you don't.
uponit7771
(90,364 posts)Not Sure
(735 posts)while giving my best "these aren't the droids you're looking for" face. So far no problems. Of course it probably doesn't hurt that the older I get the more I resemble Obi-Wan Kenobi.
Seriously though: fuck this cop.
brush
(53,871 posts)Too many dummies on police forces trying to up their "collar" rates with stupid shenanigans and feeble lies we're supposed to believe as reasons for their actions.
These dummies, often also bullies, cause big problems by preying on mostly black and brown motorists (i.e. Sandra Bland).
Perhaps cops should be required to have at least an associate's degree.
yellowcanine
(35,701 posts)Dang, I hate when that happens.
Nye Bevan
(25,406 posts)And any previous convictions of anybody that depended on his testimony should be overturned.
ProfessorGAC
(65,199 posts)Didn't he file a false police report?
mountain grammy
(26,655 posts)The cop should be fired for lying. The story doesn't tell us, so I assume nothing happened to the cop. what bullshit!
malaise
(269,182 posts)Something has to give
Nuclear Unicorn
(19,497 posts)At a minimum.
d_legendary1
(2,586 posts)The only thing they're gonna do is rescind the ticket and call it a day. Meanwhile this guy gets to pull that same stunt on someone else who won't be affiliated with the NAACP and have the means to hire an attorney.
Spitfire of ATJ
(32,723 posts)uponit7771
(90,364 posts)Not Sure
(735 posts)I just go with the default racist cop until proven otherwise.
IronLionZion
(45,534 posts)neither does the complete lack of any crime or traffic violation. If someone might possibly look nervous, they are going down.
How can someone not know the difference between a bearded bald man vs a woman with hair and no beard? So basically this cop saw a nervous dark skinned person and decided to look up their plates just in case he won't make his quota that month?
Laura PourMeADrink
(42,770 posts)say why he lost his license, does it? totally irrelevant, but just curious.
SmittynMo
(3,544 posts)we wouldn't have the technology we have today?
Sometimes I think the police and the prisons have an agreement to keep the cells full.
Cha Ching!!!!
malaise
(269,182 posts)out of the poor - it's like the new Jim Crow - exploit those who are poor.