‘He Was Asleep’: White Cop Confronts Black Man Resting at Bus Station for ‘Causing a Commotion’—But Travelers Rally Behind Him and Wipe the Smug Right Off the Officer’s Face
A Black man sleeping in a bus station was forced to defend himself against a ridiculous accusation by a police officer.
A Raleigh, North Carolina cop rousted Dan McKenzie from a nap, claiming he was “causing a commotion.”
Perplexed, the groggy man asked: “I’m causing a commotion?” Several Black travelers who overheard the exchange seemed surprised as well and immediately rallied around McKenzie.
One chimed in, “How did he cause a commotion when he was asleep?” Another said, “he was just sitting here.” McKenzie later claimed the officer had been bothering sleeping travelers all day.
It’s unclear whether McKenzie was a weary traveler taking a break or someone who’d been napping for hours. Either way, Officer J.K. Dunn got a quick history lesson in the July 2 video, which is now going viral.
Despite having just been asleep, McKenzie was now remarkably awake. He shot back with a staunch defense of his own.
He cited the Black Codes passed by Southern states after the Civil War. Police used these laws to restrict the movements of African Americans, allowing frivolous arrests for minor infractions such as supposed idleness in public. No noise or vagrancy complaint was referenced in the video, and it’s unclear whether one existed.
“Them slavecatcher laws, them Black codes,” he told the officer, “That trespassing, that vagrancy law. Right.”
Another Black man in line for the bus backed up McKenzie, saying, “I’m having a hard time understanding it myself.”
The officer responded, “That’s right because you don’t have to understand.”
McKenzie boldly shot back, “Nobody has to understand but this guy right here. He’s the only one who needs to understand anything. The one with the gun.”
The situation seemed to settle when a Black security guard and a Black female officer approached. When McKenzie asked, ‘May I shut my eyes and fall asleep?’ the guard agreed, which meant no citation or arrest was needed.
At a public bus station, napping isn’t trespassing unless you refuse to leave after being asked. McKenzie claimed the officer had been bothering sleeping travelers all day.
By the end of the video, the officer walked out of the station. One viewer couldn’t help but note, “He wasn’t expecting everyone else to call him on his BS.”
As McKenzie put it in his Instagram caption: “Somebody once told me that ‘I better know where I am.’ I told him, ‘I don’t give a f*ck where I am; I know where I’m from!’”