‘Are Those Your Keys?’: North Carolina Cops Assume Black Janitor Is a Car Thief, Slam Him to the Ground, Threaten to Tase Him—Then Only Release Him When Driver Walks Up, Video Shows
Body-cam footage released last week by the Asheville Police Department shows two officers violently arresting a 63-year-old Black janitor at the Grove Arcade after he tried to help them locate the suspect of a car that had just been reported stolen from a nearby dealership.
The controversial police video, released on Jan. 15, more than a month after the incident, sparked a firestorm of outrage online over what appeared to be racial profiling by the authorities.
Louis Searles, a longtime sanitation worker at the vibrant downtown shopping mall, was taken to the ground on Dec. 9 just outside the gentrified storefronts and boutique shops, where police spotted a car they believed was stolen and jumped on Searles after he walked by and offered to help.
Moments earlier, officers descended on the suspect car after receiving a mistaken report from the local Subaru dealership that one of its vehicles had been driven off the lot without authorization.
Staff at Fred Anderson’s Prestige Subaru informed officers the vehicle’s tracking system was pinging at a West Asheville apartment complex, but they were not able to immediately locate the car. Later, the vehicle pinged near Battle Square, leading officers to the Grove Arcade, where Searles was on the clock and tending to the facilities.
The officers arrived separately and were later identified as Sgt. Ian Cooper and Officer Jose Rico-Garcia.
Upon encountering the officers in the shopping district, Searles — who was wearing his janitorial uniform — indicated that he had seen the driver of the cargo inside one of the stores.
“What’s up with her car?” Searles asked, suggesting the car belonged to a woman.
“With whose car?” the officers asked, to which Searles responded, “What’s wrong with my lady’s car,” while jangling a ring of keys in his hand. “Can we come talk to her real quick?” asked Cooper. “Well, she’s working up in Thrive,” Searles said.
The officers later claimed to be suspicious of Searles because he seemed to be approaching the suspect car with keys in his hands.
“Okay, so whose — uh— we gotta figure it out because this was reported as unauthorized use,” Cooper told Searles.
“Reported as unauthorized use?” Searles asked before calmly disengaging from the conversation and walking off to get back to his job.
But that’s when officers followed Searles, grabbed him aggressively, and attempted to place him in handcuffs while also confiscating his keys.
“Are those your keys?” one of the officers can be heard asking Searles in footage of the confrontation. “These are my motherf—ing keys,” Searles fumed as the officers ordered his hands behind his back.
Flabbergasted that he was being arrested for no reason, Searles stammered in protest, prompting the officers to wrestle him to the ground and threaten to deploy a Taser to subdue the innocent man.
Sirens blared in the background and flashing lights swirled as multiple backups arrived; a small crowd had gathered on the sidewalk, witnessing an embarrassing scene just outside the mall entrance.
The two officers involved later posted a YouTube video, claiming their actions were justified because they had “reasonable suspicion” to believe that Searles had committed a crime.
Following the December arrest, multiple bystanders and workers at the Grove Arcade —many of whom know Searles by name — came forward to voice their concerns about the incident.
Asheville filed a Dec. 20 petition for public release of the video, citing transparency and the public’s strong interest in accurate facts, according to attorney John Maddux.
A judge approved the release on Jan. 13, and the videos were uploaded to Asheville’s YouTube page on Jan. 15.
Another independent attorney who examined the case noted that Searles’ civil rights had been violated, with the officers subjecting him to excessive force, presumably because he refused to provide information about a situation he had nothing to do with.
Reasonable suspicion allows officers to temporarily detain someone if they have specific, articulable facts suggesting criminal activity, attorney John H. Bryant explained in a YouTube video on his The Civil Rights Lawyer channel.
This legal standard is lower than probable cause but must be based on objective observations rather than a hunch. If officers relied on concrete evidence, such as a vehicle’s tracking signal or eyewitness reports, their actions likely adhered to the law. However, if their suspicion stemmed solely from assumptions or biases, it would fall short of the legal standard, the attorney explained. Whether the officers acted lawfully hinges on whether their actions were grounded in objective, verifiable facts. It’s unclear whether Searles plans to pursue legal action.
Officers initially approached the suspect car with guns drawn, but nobody was inside. After this, the officers are shown milling about in the parking lot discussing the car when Searles enters the frame, saying he had observed a woman pull up in the car and go inside “Thrive” — a business that provides a remote workspace in the building where Searles is employed.
Searles attempted to prove his innocence by using his key fob to lock his vehicle, which was parked near the doors, pleading with the officers that the keys in his hand were for his own car. Despite this, the officers remained unconvinced, and Searles found himself in an unconscionable position, facing charges of grand theft for the crime of working while Black.
Later, the woman in possession of the vehicle exited the store and informed officers that they had made a serious error, revealing that the allegedly “stolen” car was actually a rental provided by the dealership while her vehicle was under repair.
After an investigation, Searles was released without charges, but the damage was done. A bystander recorded the incident and shared it on social media, where the video sparked outrage, with many describing Searles as a beloved member of the Asheville community.
The police department conducted an administrative review of the incident, concluding that the officers acted in accordance with standard procedures while attributing the man’s arrest to being in the wrong place at the wrong time, citing his “lack of cooperation,” which ultimately made him a suspect.
“The review concluded that the officers acted within agency policy, based on reasonable suspicion, to detain Mr. Searles. Key facts included his familiarity with the vehicle, his possession of keys potentially related to it, and his lack of cooperation during the investigation,” the department stated.
The police report also blamed Searles for escalating the incident because he had failed to identify himself to officers as an employee of the building. However, Searles’ work shirt prominently displayed ‘Quality Janitorial Group’ on the front.