A woman in a car arguing with a police officer.

@pr3ttymo3/TikTok

‘I felt very unsafe for my child and me’: Black TikToker says cop tailed her for 8 blocks, tried to arrest her

She says her local police department has harassed her for over a year.

 

Rachel Kiley

Internet Culture

Posted on Nov 16, 2021   Updated on Nov 17, 2021, 10:10 am CST

A TikToker recorded an encounter with police after she says she pulled over of her own accord and the officer subsequently approached her car, demanded her information, and put her in handcuffs.

“This officer did not pull me over. I pulled my car over, and now he’s harassing me,” Monique Thorpe (@pr3ttymo3) tells her camera at the start of her video, which has gotten over 500,000 views on TikTok since it was posted Nov. 12.

The officer in question is standing next to her window, and argues that he was “about to” pull her over for speeding, which she says she was not doing. The heated back-and-forth continues with the officer asking Thorpe for her license and refusing to run her plate when she suggests simply doing that instead. Not long after, he claims he has already run her plates, but doesn’t know her name.

Eventually, the officer appears to open the TikToker’s door and demand she step out so they can arrest her.

https://www.tiktok.com/@pr3ttymo3/video/7029449379840920837

According to Thorpe, she was taking her son to the emergency room for a COVID test when she noticed a police car following her. She alleged he tailed her for eight blocks, with her taking several detours just to see if she was being paranoid or not, and when he didn’t stop, she pulled her car over.

At that point, she says, the officer pulled past her car, then reversed, turned on his lights, and approached her vehicle on foot.

“And the moment he told me I was going to be arrested, I turned my camera on, because I needed evidence of what was going on and him harassing me,” Thorpe told viewers in a video explaining what had happened.

https://www.tiktok.com/@pr3ttymo3/video/7030100372140199174

The TikToker maintains that she was not speeding for any of that time, and that if she was going 20 miles an hour over the posted speed limit as the officer claimed, he would have pulled her over rather than tailing her for so long.

Rather, Thorpe believes the incident was part of an ongoing issue between her and the Bradley Police Department in Illinois, following an incident in her home where “a man lost his life and the other man is in jail right now fighting for his life.” 

“They have been harassing me ever since because they want me to say things that I am not going to say,” she said. “I’m not going to lie on either party.”

She went on to detail encounters with police for the past year, including them allegedly showing up at her house and an arrest for a suspended license when she says her license is valid.

“I’m yelling [in the video] because I have been harassed for a year,” she said. “I have done nothing wrong. I have no police record. I go to work, I take care of my child, and I mind my motherfucking business. I have no reason to be harassed by the police.”

The Daily Dot has reached out to both @pr3ttymo3 and the Bradley Police Department.


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*First Published: Nov 16, 2021, 3:59 pm CST