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| I got pulled over for a traffic violation and got detained for no reason. |
They frisked and handcuffed him. The Louisville City Council are calling for an informal review of the police. The family of the young teen pulled over are threatening a lawsuit.
Tae-Ahn Lea was pulled over for an improper turn signal.
He was in his mother's Chrysler Charger and was running an errand. He was getting a drink from a local store when this encounter occurred.
In August 2019, the teen was pulled over near Dixie Highway (U.S. 60/U.S. 31-W). He was pulled over by a dirty cop. The dirty cop claimed he was just doing his job to prevent violent crime in the Louisville metro.
"Do you know why I stopped you?"
Lea had no idea, he said.
"When you turned … you turned in to the far left lane," Crawford said. "You’re supposed to turn in the right lane."
Lea, expecting to get a citation, followed orders, even asking for permission to reach into his pocket to get his license. But the officer grabbed him by both wrists and pulled him from the car.
"Mama, they are taking me out of the vehicle," he cried out to his mother, who had called on his cellphone.
Three times Crawford asked Lea if he had any drugs or weapons. Three times Lea told him no.
"Put your hands on the car and spread your feet," Crawford demanded.
"What are you checking me for?" Lea asked. "I told you I didn’t do anything. … Why'd you f------ took me out of the car?”
"We are allowed to," Crawford's partner, Detective Gabe Hellard, said.
"This is some bulls---," Lea said.
"Quit with the attitude," Hellard told him. "Stop the clenching-your-fist thing. We’re here for you. There's a shooting every day. Ain't nobody been nasty to you at all."
Police found nothing on Lea, so they asked permission to search the car. Lea declined, as is his right.
Then they brought in a police dog that they said "alerted" them to contraband inside Lea's mother's 2011 Dodge Charger, although it is not apparent on the body camera footage from the officers who came to the scene.
But it gave police probable cause to search the car.
And to place Lea into handcuffs.
"You're not under arrest, but you are not free to go," Hellard told him. "I'm not going to fight you and I’m not going to chase you. I had to chase some guy last night, and I haven’t recovered from it."
His mother, Tija Jackson, a juvenile probation officer and private investigator, arrived at the scene, where the three white officers were holding her son.
"What did you pull him over for?” she asked Crawford, who threatens to take her to jail if she doesn't stay back. "There is nothing in there. It's my car."
"I am the detective who pulled him over," Crawford said. "He committed a traffic violation. He conducted an improper turn on to 18th Street.
"Luckily for you, ma'am, everything was captured on body camera," he added.
"Luckily enough for you," Jackson said.
"Oh, really,” the officer replied.
As the search continued, Hellard tries to engage Lea in conversation.
"Have you been in trouble before?" the officer asked.
"None,” Lea shook his head, shifting nervously from one foot to the other.
"Anything as a juvenile at all?" Hellard asked.
No, Lea said.
Hellard asked where Lea works. "You say you sell cars at Oxmoor Ford Lincoln?"
"That’s good money," Hellard said. "You actually like a car salesman?"
Police found nothing in the car.
McCauley announced he was going to try to calm Lea's mother down, but they ended up in a confrontation.
"Are you Mom? Are you doing all right?" he asked.
"I'm pissed off, for real," she said.
"What you pissed off for?" McCauley asked.
"My son … is a working young man," she replied. "He doesn't cause no problems. And they took him out of the car. And he asked, 'Why you taking me out of the car?' And he said, ‘Cuz I can.’
"If it's a wrong turn, give him a ticket," she said.
"That’s not what we’re out here for," McCauley responded. "We are a violent crimes unit.
"We don’t pick and choose where we work. We are told by our commanders, by the chief’s office, where to patrol, and all that is based off criminal violence statistics. The 18th Street corridor, Victory Park, Park Hill, they are the areas we are told to patrol. That’s why we are here.
Lea got a ticket after the encounter. Two months later, a judge dismissed the traffic citation against Lea.
Neither Crawford nor Hellard, who issued the ticket, showed up in court to defend it.
Many in Louisville are outraged over the encounter. They are calling for the cannon firing of the cops involved. The Urban League of Louisville and NAACP are calling for police reforms.
The city is doing an internal review of the pull over. The dirty cops involved aren't off the streets, yet.
This video does show why minorities are not trusting of the police.
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