Indianapolis resident Jaquon Dean was in the parking lot of his own apartment complex when he was approached by an officer in uniform. The individual certainly looked official: His uniform was emblazoned with the word “police,” but his actions weren’t becoming of an officer.
Instead, from the story Dean told Indianapolis channel WRTV, it appears he was the victim of racial profiling. The young Black man was arrested after the white police officer accused him of “loitering.”
Dean filmed his now-viral encounter with the officer, James Reynolds, who according to WRTV is actually the owner of a security company, Reynolds Security Consulting Corp.
“How am I loitering if I live on this property?” Dean asks, incredulously, at the beginning of the video. “You don’t know if I’m fixing my car if I’m waiting to leave or not, so why are you walking up saying I’m loitering?”
In Indianapolis, Indiana
— StanceGrounded (@_SJPeace_) August 25, 2018
Black brother, Malcolm Evans, was working on his car in his own apartment complex when a white cop approached him and accused him of loitering. Two cops were called for back up and the brother was arrested.
THIS IS WHY WE KNEEL!
RETWEET THIS! pic.twitter.com/sXS6wPyKNQ
The clip shows the officer asking for ID from Dean. He declines to give the officer is ID, stating he isn’t going to provide his address for the officer. Speaking to WRTV, Dean stated that the officer was at the complex “every day” and “knows [Dean] lives there.”
In the video, Reynolds asks if Dean knew “the definition” of loitering and prompts him to get on Google “right now” to look it up. Dean declines and says there was no reason for the officer to have asked him for identification or what he was doing in the parking lot. The tension escalates after a second officer states he “really don’t give a shit” about being filmed as Dean asked for his identification and badge number.
There’s a lot of back-and-forth from the officers about how Dean isn’t cooperating. Dean asks over and over again what crime he was committing. The officers only say that he’s not showing his ID.
Dean is eventually pulled out of his car and arrested. The officers tell him to “stop tensing up” even though he remains calm the entire time.
The video cuts off after the phone falls to the ground. The clip ends as the altercation becomes physical.
It’s a harrowing clip that’s even more chilling when you consider the fact that, according to WRTV, Dean was indeed confirmed as a resident of the apartment complex. The officer who identified himself as Reynolds had reportedly been terminated from a position at the Marion County Sheriff’s Office in 2013.
Further, as the Root’s Michael Harriot points out, the definition for loitering for Indiana states that the act must take place in a public “way, street, highway, place or alley.” An apartment complex where one lives hardly meets this criteria.
Reynolds told WRTV he wasn’t able to comment on the “ongoing investigation.” Dean said told the outlet he’s looking into taking legal action against Reynolds for profiling and assault.
H/T the Root