4 years ago
I work at hampton Walmart and I often give a cowor...
I work at hampton Walmart and I often give a coworker a ride home to downtown hampton where he lives. Last night, I'm turning off Pembroke going through the park that use to be an apartment complex across from the bus terminal. A patrol car comes out of nowhere and follows me. I cross another road and I'm about to drop my friend off in the shopping center next to the hampton jail and st. John's church. He flashes his lights and I pull over and immediately put my hands on the steering wheel. The officer is young, white, with red hair. He tells me that I have a light out in the back of my car. I ask which one, but he won't tell me until I give him my driver's license. I give him my license, and he tells me I need to formally change my address. I told him I would and was unaware I had only 30 days after moving to do it. He takes me to my back license plates and says my light is out. I bent over and inspected the area and both lights were ON and WORKING! I asked him to bend down and see. He did and even agreed with me that it was working! To add insult to injury, he gave me a warning about my ID needing to be updated but wasn't going to write me a ticket. This was a sloppily veiled form of racial profiling, pure and simple. once I proved the light was operational, I should have been given an apology for being stopped and my time being wasted. I'm gainfully employed, college educated, pay my taxes, and vote regularly. i was just trying to take a friend home from work, three blocks from the police station and next to the city jail. I guess driving while black at night is a crime. shame on this rogue officer! He's an embarrassment to the rest of his colleagues who try to protect and serve.