John Felton: [Dayton Police] Profile Black Motorists!

Detroit motorist got razzed by the law.

The folks over at Mediaite happened to pick up on a story that happened in this rust belt city that I call home. There was a case of profiling by the law of a motorist.

Dayton Daily News also noted that the Dayton Police offered a response to the motorist.

John Felton was in my city. He was originally a resident from Dayton but would move to the Detroit metro area. He would film one of Dayton officers pulling him over.

This officer followed him for two miles before he was pulling over.

John whips out the camera phone. The officer approaches his vehicle and told him of his infraction.

The infraction was a turn signal violation. John knew this was happening. He said that the officer followed him because he had Michigan license plates. 

The officer returns back and tells him he had a warning for the infraction. Of course, John wasn't pleased about the pull over in the first place. He asked why was the officer following him for that long of a distance before a pull over was engaged. 

The officer basically said that John "made suspicious eye contact" and he didn't want to argue with him. The officer said that he can reissue a citation for the encounter. Told him to move along or be cited. 

John like most Americans was shocked about the encounter. Given that he mentioned the tragic situation in Texas with Sandra Bland. He noted that he didn't want to end up like many Black motorists in police custody.

So he posted the video to the social media and also reported the officer to his superiors. 

The Dayton police said the traffic infraction was verified by the video, but “making direct eye contact with an officer is not a basis for a traffic stop.”

The department said Felton has agreed to a conversation with the officer, facilitated by the Dayton Mediation Center.

“This will allow Mr. Felton and the officer to discuss the specifics of the incident,” the department said.

Routine pull over.

The department, the Montgomery County Sheriff’s Office and the Ohio State Highway Patrol were conducted Safe Communities Through Aggressive Traffic Enforcement.

SCATE is an initiative that is aimed at decreasing OVI-related fatalities and injuries in the city of Dayton. So according to the law, they were doing spot it, stop it! Yeah, that's their excuse.

Again, the law can lie when they do a pull over. They can lie when they issue a citation. They can lie when they use their firearm in deadly force. They can lie when the suspect is killed while in custody.

They can use the media to paint the suspect as a "no good thug" while the officer is a "dedicated" public servant.

Usually getting pulled over by police does involve a minor infraction.

I've explained in earlier year, I had been profiled by the law too. 

Their excuse is failure to signal at 100 feet. There is an ordinance. But oftentimes that's the most usual excuse for an officer to search your vehicle without justification. 

Montgomery County Sheriff and the Dayton Police usually pull this of bullshit. I've been profiled three times this year. The first encounter was explained in a posting. The second encounter involved two officers who are in the freezer after they killed a motorist they claimed had a gun and pointed at them. These encounters involved the Harrison Township branch of the Montgomery County Sheriff.

The third time was back in June. This happened in the South (formerly third) district of Dayton Police.

I've been followed for four miles by an officer. I was on the main road called Third Street in the Roosevelt-Westwood neighborhood. I had some minor front end damage to the vehicle. It was 2:00 am. I was at an intersection near this road called James H. McGee Boulevard. The officer was turned left from that road. I took one look at him turn. Didn't think much of it. So as I move down the road, I see these bright lights 1/2 mile back. These bright lights were racing down Third Street. I figured that the officer did the U-turn and decided to pursue suspicion. So I was experimenting. I was about to whip out my camera phone and record the whole encounter. I decided to wait patiently for an encounter. 

I'm filming this encounter.

I decided to turn on this road called Edwin Moses Boulevard. I traveled down towards Fifth Street. I turn left and head towards downtown. I look in the back of my mirror seeing that the officer didn't follow me. So everything was fine for a moment. I was close to Sinclair Community College when I was heading towards the highway. I was at a stop light. I saw the officer drive pass.

So I decided to turn left and proceed towards the highway. About two blocks later, the officer was making a pit stop at the Chaminade-Julienne High School student parking lot.  As I passed him by, he pulls out towards the road. He decides to follow once again. I was waiting for the lights to activate. 

As I proceed towards the highway, I signaled and turned. He turned and passed me by. 

He literally followed me almost til I've gotten towards downtown. I was about to start recording the interaction. I was hoping he was going to prepare for a traffic pull over. 

And like the motorist in this posting, I've felt that the officer had an intention to harass. 

Now again, Black Lives Matter is often featured in the news. The activists are protesting for police reform and accountability. In the wake of this past week's tragic shootings, many in law enforcement blame the protesters for officer involved killings. They use their megaphone by which is the junk food media to put the Black Lives Matters activist on blast. The political agitators to stir the pot even more by trying to denounce the group as paid agitators and extremists.

I do not belong to any groups. I speak for myself and I don't have to be an activist. But I can sympathize with the Black Lives Matter movement. Enough is enough. Time to end police brutality and racial profiling. Hold them accountable for their actions.

It seems like an eye for an eye. The police won't rat out their bad officers. It goes hand and hand with the Black community refusing to rat out their bad residents responsible for criminal acts.

All this concern trolling about Black-on-Whatever crime is not helpful either. In the wake of the shooting of Texas deputy Darren Goforth, the law plays the Blame Game on activists instead of the suspect.

The suspect deserves ALL THE BLAME. No one inspired him to do a criminal act but him.

John Felton followed the rules right. He had a right to film police officers. He had a right to question why he was being pulled over by the law. That officer's conduct was out of line. John had a right to not consent to a search of his vehicle, home or property.

Hopefully this mediation will teach the officer how to avoid confrontations (at least when he's filmed by citizens).