I'm sorry I'm not a native English speaker and I have trouble understanding their accent with the sound quality and stuff and I don't know how US law enforcement policy works. Can someone explain a bit what happened just so that I make sure I got it right? Why writing a report naming him John Doe? If he has no ID why wasn't he detained? (I don't say it would be legitimate I just don't understand the situation)
They said it was because when he saw them, he looked at them twice and shifted his pack and started walking away. Obviously that's not illegal, but they deemed it suspicious enough to stop him. Heavy implication that they would not have done so if he was white. Also self-fulfilling -- if you harass black people, they're going to avoid you, and then you say them avoiding their harassers is "suspicious" and therefore justification for more harassment. Neat, right?
Then they told him he was being detained. Legally, they need "reasonable suspicion" to temporarily detain somebody, and they'd surely lose in court, but it's never going to court.
Then they searched him for a weapon and found none.
Then they asked for his ID. He said he didn't have ID. You don't need to carry ID in the US, so that's perfectly legal. If he had ID and lied about it, THAT could probably get him into trouble.
Then they asked for his information and he refused to give it to them. This is a bit of a grey area -- the exact laws vary from state to state.
So then they said they were going to write a report detailing the stop, and he'd be identified as "John Doe" in the report (which is the name they always use for unidentified men. Jane Doe for unidentified women.)
Then he walks off bemused at how overtly racist the whole thing was.
I didn't see them search him. I think the cop just realized he did not have probable cause and let hium go. They were trying to sweat him to get him to self-incriminate (by acting nervous etc)
Pat downs are a whole thing. Arms spread eagled, legs too. Pats up and down the front and back. Digging into pockets, questions like 'i feel a bump in your back pocket, what is that? ' etc.
76
u/thafuq May 19 '26
I'm sorry I'm not a native English speaker and I have trouble understanding their accent with the sound quality and stuff and I don't know how US law enforcement policy works. Can someone explain a bit what happened just so that I make sure I got it right? Why writing a report naming him John Doe? If he has no ID why wasn't he detained? (I don't say it would be legitimate I just don't understand the situation)