Monday 31 August 2015

Cop Pulls Black Man Over for "Making Direct Eye Contact" in Ohio

Former Ohio resident John Felton was pulled over by Dayton police in front of his mom’s house after he allegedly activated his turn signal less than 100 feet before making a right turn. Unable to believe an officer would stop him on such a piddling technicality, Felton asked the officer why he was really followed for several blocks and eventually pulled over. 

“Because you made direct eye contact with me and held onto it when I was passing you,” the officer responded. 

When Felton attempted to protest, the officer told him to end the discussion or face a citation for the not-quite-missed turn signal. 

Felton is black. 

Felton provided video of the stop, showing the officer’s ridiculous excuse for pulling him over, to the David Pakman Show. (The “direct eye contact” excuse is especially ridiculous considering that police have also stopped people for “suspiciously” avoiding eye contact in the past. It is impossible to win.)
And furthermore, Felton claims he didn’t even make the alleged eye contact with the cop. 

“What?! I didn’t even see you,” you can hear him say in the video. 

Felton believes he was stopped for being a black man with out-of-state plates—he now lives in Michigan:
“I got a nice car. I don’t know if he seen I was a black male. I feel like I was targeted, the Michigan car and it was about 11 o’clock at night,” he told ABC 22

Dayton Police wrote on Twitter that they’re reviewing the tape, and Felton says a sergeant emailed him Thursday to get his side of the story.