‘Looking Suspicious’: Cop Stops Black Mom for Passing a Coffee Cup to Her Son and Accuses Her of Drug Deal, But She Knows Her Rights
A Black mother claims she was racially profiled by police when they pulled her over for handing a forgotten coffee cup to her son from her driver’s side window.
A viral video from January 15 showed an officer from Fairview County Township in Pennsylvania asking if she had “crack, weed,” or any “illegal substances” in her car after claiming the innocent cup handoff looked like a suspicious “drug transaction.”
The mother, 55-year-old Biancha Tatum, refused a vehicle search, and the officers — one reportedly part of a drug task force — eventually left without making an arrest, but only after several minutes of badgering and back-and-forth arguing. Tatum called it a “horrible” instance of “racial profiling” and has vowed not to let it go unchecked. She said she has already contacted local government officials and has the video evidence to prove it.
Pennsylvania mother Biancha Tatum shared a concerning interaction with local police. Officers pulled her over after she handed her son his coffee cup—which he had forgotten in her car—claiming the exchange looked suspicious, “like a drug transaction.”
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“I will be taking this all the way to the highest possible level that I can. I refuse to sit down and let this happen to me, and there be no repercussions,” she wrote in a Jan. 17 Facebook post. “I have to follow the proper steps, but just know that I’m not letting up. The crazy part about all of this is what he assumed, what he thought, because I was a Black woman, that’s the only reason.”
In the video footage, Tatum goes from calm compliance to shock when she realizes she is suspected of an illegal drug transaction. She immediately called out the officer for racial profiling.
“Y’all think we did a transaction or something?” she asked.
The officer responded, “Well, that’s what it looked like.”
She then followed up with: “Because we’re Black?”
The officer initially laughed off her accusation before suggesting she might be in possession of “crack” or other illegal drugs and lying about her son. He wanted her to describe the coffee cup in detail and repeatedly asked if he could search her vehicle, which she denied.
As the cop continued his line of questioning, Tatum became increasingly upset and raised her voice: “That’s not fair. And you, police officer, are horrible.”
The video made its way to X on March 3, where dozens of commenters are weighing in.
“That’s insane profiling,” wrote one person, “suspecting someone based on the color of their skin is racist.”
Another person wrote, “It’s crazy that something as innocent as giving your [grown] child a coffee can make you a ‘suspect.’” Others agreed, saying, “So Black people can’t exchange anything without looking suspicious.”
Meanwhile, a small group is defending the officer, saying “he’s just doing his job as a cop, nothing more.”