{"id":30807,"date":"2022-04-16T15:11:55","date_gmt":"2022-04-16T15:11:55","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/cjstudents.com\/?p=30807"},"modified":"2022-04-16T15:11:55","modified_gmt":"2022-04-16T15:11:55","slug":"police-stops-of-black-people-often-filled-with-fear-anxiety","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/cjstudents.com\/index.php\/2022\/04\/16\/police-stops-of-black-people-often-filled-with-fear-anxiety\/","title":{"rendered":"Police stops of Black people often filled with fear, anxiety"},"content":{"rendered":"

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The video seems clear: Patrick Lyoya disobeyed an officer during a traffic stop, tried to run, then wrestled with the officer over his Taser before the officer fatally shot him in Grand Rapids, Michigan.<\/p>\n

For a number of Black men and women, resisting arrest during encounters with police for minor traffic stops have been deadly. Experts say anxiety levels of the people stopped and even the officers involved can be high, adding to the tension.<\/p>\n

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\n George Floyd’s 2020 slaying by Minneapolis police Officer Derek Chauvin, the 2014 strangulation death of Eric Garner by a New York City officer and the shooting death of Michael Brown that same year by an officer in Ferguson, Missouri, are among high-profile encounters that proved deadly for Black men.<\/p>\n


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A store employee called police, saying Floyd allegedly tried to pass a counterfeit $20 bill. Police stopped Garner on suspicion of selling untaxed cigarettes. An officer confronted Brown and a companion as they walked to Brown\u2019s home from a convenience store. Brown was shot after scuffling with the officer. All three men were unarmed.<\/p>\n

\u201cBecause of the way police are commonly portrayed, there can be anxiety for young men of color when they are pulled over,\u201d said Jason Johnson, president of the Law Enforcement Legal Defense Fund. \u201c\u2018Am I going to get a ticket? Am I going to get arrested?\u2019 They may believe they are going to be a victim of abuse. Many times they enter into these interactions thinking they are going to be a victim of brutality.\u201d<\/p>\n

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In 2015, a white police officer in Columbia, South Carolina, pulled over Walter Scott, a 50-year-old Black man, for a broken brake light. A bystander\u2019s video captured the two tumbling to the ground after the officer hit Scott with a Taser. The officer then shot Scott as he tried to run.<\/p>\n

In Lyoya’s case, some \u2014 including his family and their high-profile attorney, Ben Crump \u2014 have said the 26-year-old Congolese refugee was slain for having a license plate that did not belong to the vehicle. While that’s why the officer stopped Lyoya, Johnson said, that’s not why Lyoya was killed.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s one of the disconnects or misunderstandings between the police and the public,\u201d Johnson said. \u201cIf you look a little bit deeper, that\u2019s not what happened. (Lyoya) had a number of opportunities to comply with the officer\u2019s directions. This use of deadly force had nothing to do with a traffic violation and everything to do with (Lyoya) actively resisting arrest.\u201d<\/p>\n

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Lyoya\u2019s actions led \u201cdown the path that ultimately ended in deadly force,\u201d Johnson added.<\/p>\n

Grand Rapids police on Wednesday released video of the April 4 stop, including from the officer’s vehicle and body camera, from a bystander’s cellphone and from a doorbell camera. The videos show the brief foot chase and a struggle as the white officer repeatedly tells Lyoya to stop. At one point, Lyoya has his hand on the officer\u2019s stun gun, and the officer yells at him to let go.<\/p>\n

The struggle ended when the officer shot Lyoya in the head as Lyoya was facedown, with the officer straddling him.<\/p>\n

Scott Roberts, senior director of criminal justice and democracy campaigns at Color of Change, a national racial justice organization, said officers are often fearful given the dangers involved with making stops. But that doesn\u2019t negate that Black motorists suffer for showing or expressing their justified fears in traffic stops, he said.<\/p>\n

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\u201cLooking at police culture, there is just this pushback on the notion that policing is rooted in white supremacy and has been a tool of white supremacy,\u201d Roberts said. \u201cAnd so there is a kind of denial of why Black people would have that fear. You\u2019ve already criminalized the person when you\u2019re making a pre-textual stop. Your assumption is going to be that this is only a confirmation of their guilt, that fear.\u201d<\/p>\n

Roberts added that these dynamics have increasingly led cities, prosecutors and police to enact policies that deemphasize or end stops for minor infractions.<\/p>\n

Skin color and experiences could skew how all parties interpret interactions and confrontations between Black Americans and white officers, said Paul Bergman, professor emeritus of law at UCLA.<\/p>\n

\u201cCultural narratives may lead white officers as well as Black officers to anticipate trouble when the person they are stopping is Black,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n