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Fearing "Protect and Serve"

-- By TaleahTyrell - 16 Apr 2021

Pre-textual Stops Escalating

Expired Registration Tags

My boyfriend who lives across the country called me over Facetime last night, as we always do. I asked about his day and he proceeded to tell me he had a nice day but again did not have a chance to drive over to the DMV to drop of a change of address form. He moved from Southern California to Northern California about a year ago and promptly submitted a change of address form to the postal office. Unbeknownst to him, that change does not apply to DMV documents. His new registration was sent to his old address and he had no way to get these documents.

As he explained the situation I smiled and encouragingly told him to try and get that done as soon as possible. Though I was trying to be supportive, my mind was racing and my anxiety was peaking. I did not want to stress him out but the thought of him driving to work every day with an expired registration produced in me great fear.

In the midst of the Derek Chauvin case, a few miles away, another officer shot a 20-year-old black male. They pulled him over because of his expired tags. When the officers got to his car, they also noticed items hanging from the rear view mirror which is prohibited under Minnesota law. A quick run of his name found that he had a warrant and a custodial arrest ensued. After the shooting, the police chief said that the officer who shot the young father actually mistook her gun for a taser. She's worked in the field for 20-years. I watched the video. I saw the young man try to get back into his car as he was being arrested. I saw him try to drive off. On my Instagram I see people say the typical "He was resisting arrest." There's not a lot of people anymore that say that, but there are still some.

I've seen others say, "how can civilians be expected to stay calm when even police officers are not calm enough to distinguish a gun from a taser?" I saw the look in his face on that video. It is a look of utter fear. A look where you weigh the odds and decide that its better to try and escape the situation or risk death. He took that risk, he got death. I've experienced that same fear several times. A year ago, driving around San Diego with my boyfriend. The cops stop us as we are cruising around an affluent neighborhood. "License and registration" "May I ask what we did wrong officer?" "Your license plate is not from California."

We looked at each other, so scared of what was happening as the cop walked back to his car to run his license. A few minutes later he came back to the car, this time, completely ignoring him, only talking to me. "Where is he from?" the cop asked me. And then, "Ma'm, I need to see your license or identification too." Luckily I'd brought my wallet along. Normally, when we go out to drive I tend to leave everything at home. I gave him my identification and he said "Oh, you are from here." A few minutes later, he let us go.

Our day was ruined. We left angry, confused, hurt, but most of all embarrassed. Why did he ask for MY license if I was not the one driving? Why did he stop us for driving around with a Tennessee license plate? I started crying, fuming. I knew that officer was just trying to get a power high. To show us what he could do and doing what he did because he could. I don't know what I would've done had I been asked to get out of the car that day. I want to say that I would comply and do all as I was asked to do. But even knowing all the rules, I can't be 100% sure how my sympathetic nervous system would've reacted. I can't say that my fight or flight instincts wouldn't hit me and I too would be, like Daunte, trying to flee the situation in fear.

Subsub 1

Re-imagining Policing for those who FEAR Police

How the Police System has to Change

Subsub 2

Section II

Subsection A

Subsection B

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