‘I’m Getting Pulled Over for Pulling Over?’: North Carolina Cop Detains Black Motorist After Driver Pulls Over Because Patrol Car Was Trailing Him, Tells Him ‘It’s Suspicious Activity’
He was tired of constantly getting pulled over, so when the Hendersonville, North Carolina, man noticed a cop was tailing him the unidentified Black motorist pulled off into a parking lot … still followed by the cop, raising an interesting question in the driver’s mind.
“So I’m getting pulled over for pulling over?” said the man, who posts as @CrazyWorldRight on TikTok, where the video has received approximately 78,000 likes and has received nearly 5,000 comments and shares.
The cop responds, “It’s suspicious activity, yeah, man.” He then asked the driver if he normally pulls over when a cop is behind him.
The man’s response certainly resonated with Black drivers
“It’s easier than having them find a reason to pull me over,” he said. “It’s just easier to just easier to get this out of the way because I’m probably being pulled over for something anyway.”
Later, he tells the officer, “If being suspicious is a crime, I guess I committed a crime.”
One of the commenters who watched the video asked facetiously, “Is suspicion a misdemeanor or felony?”
In fact, suspicion is not a crime. The Fourth Amendment is the bulwark against too much government intrusion, but there is wiggle room for law enforcement.
According to GovFacts.org, the reasonable suspicion standard limits police intrusions. Officers must possess “specific and articulable facts” which, combined with rational inferences from those facts, would reasonably suggest criminal activity is occurring, has occurred, or is about to occur.
“When actions you took happen in front of law enforcement, it raises our concerns,” the cop said.
In Part 2 of the video, the cop attempts to explain himself further. In his telling of events, the Black driver turned on his hazard lights then pulled over into the parking lot of a closed business before he turned on his siren.
“It’s not criminal, but it raises my suspicions enough that I can get out and investigate to ensure criminal activity isn’t taking place,” the officer tells the man.
The cop told him he exhibited “the behavior of people trying to separate themselves from law enforcement.”
Reasonable suspicion, however, requires more than a hunch or gut feeling.
Objective observations about what makes something or someone suspicious must be articulated and cannot be based on discriminatory factors like race, ethnicity, religion, or political beliefs. Officers are required to justify their actions on more than just a subjective bias.
A significant majority of commenters found the driver guilty of one thing: Driving while Black.
“This is a case study video of a Black Man trying to explain what it’s like being black in America,” wrote one man. “He didn’t want to hear it.”
“WOW!!! This is America people!” wrote another. “This psychological mind play. And that free to leave talk. It’s like we’re captured. I’m exhausted.”
In the end, the driver was not ticketed.
“It’s life, you know,” he said.