A Palestinian man on TikTok says he was racially profiled by police while sitting in his car, in his own neighborhood. They asked if he had weapons commonly associated with terrorist stereotypes.
The TikToker, known as Abe Nokaira (@ayoabegot223) on the platform, shared a recording of when the police approached his car. The video received 2.4 million views on TikTok as of Wednesday.
“Two cops came up to my vehicle harshly, for sitting in my truck in my neighborhood lol,” Abe wrote in the video’s on-screen caption.
In the video, a police officer is heard asking Abe if he has his ID on him. The TikToker confirmed that he did have his ID but asked the officer if he committed a crime. According to his profile, he’s a 22-year-old stunt driver from Atlanta.
“Uhh, we’re trying to figure out why you’re out here and trying to verify who you are. That’s why we’re asking for your ID,” the officer says.
“I gotchu. Well, I didn’t commit a crime, and I also live in this neighborhood, so,” Abe replies.
The officer told Abe that he needed to “verify” Abe’s claim and insisted that he show his ID. Abe again asked if he committed a crime.
“We’ve already been over this. Asking for your ID now,” the officer says.
The TikToker asks the officer to call his sergeant over, and the officer replies “sure” but tells Abe to hand over his ID in the meantime. Abe declines, saying he’ll wait until the sergeant arrives.
The officer seems to begin talking into a walkie talkie at that point, and Abe interrupts him, telling the officer to run his tag.
‘You can run my tag, it actually shows I live here,” Abe says. “I’m not trying to be hard with y’all, I just don’t like—”
The officer cuts Abe off, saying, “It shows us that the person who owns the truck lives here.”
A spokesperson for Atlanta police tells the Daily Dot that this incident occurred outside its jurisdiction. Per the video’s comments, this confrontation likely took place in Georgia.
According to Georgia Legal Aid, “You do not have to answer a police officer’s questions, but you must show your driver’s license, registration, and proof of insurance when stopped while driving a car. You cannot be legally arrested for refusing to identity yourself to a police officer (unless you are charged with loitering or prowling)” in Georgia.
In a second TikTok video, Abe showed more of the interaction with the officers. In that video, he appears to be talking to a different officer explaining what previously happened.
“Profiling at its finest and police harassment,” he said in the video’s on-screen caption.
“I didn’t feel comfortable reaching for my ID, and he got a bit aggressive with that and kept demanding it and kept saying I violated something,” Abe says to the new officer.
“Is there like a bazooka or flamethrower in the car?” the officer asks.
In reply, Abe scoffs and says, “What, because I’m Arab? Cuz I got a beard, maybe? That’s a little odd of a question, you could just say ‘weapons’ but OK.”
The officer seems to try to justify his question by telling Abe that bazookas and flamethrowers are weapons.
“Yeah well you can categorize that as weapons not bazookas or flamethrowers. That sounds very explosive, and it sounds very racial,” Abe says. “I do got a beard, I’m Muslim, it’s Ramadan. I mean, I’ve been racially profiled by the police before so if you’re wondering why I’m so hostile bro, that’s exactly why.”
The officer’s response to that was “OK.”
Viewers were as much in disbelief as Abe that the officer felt the need to ask about a bazooka and flamethrower.
“Bro a FLAMETHROWER😭😭😭 what the hell?!?” one user commented.
“That’s crazy he said bazooka and flamethrower,” another user said.
One user wrote, “Bro said a bazooka like people keep that in their inventory.”
“naw the flamethrower was crazy bro,” someone else said.
In another video update, the sergeant finally arrives, and Abe is let free to go. When the sergeant walks up to his car and asks what’s going on, Abe explains that he was sitting in his car to avoid a family member he doesn’t get along with. In the video, he says decided to wait in his car until the family member left his house.
Abe continues to explain what happened, and the sergeant seemed calm and less aggressive than the previous two officers. She asks what she can do for Abe, and he asks if he’s “free” to keep sitting in his car.
The sergeant tells him yes but tries to explain why the officers approached Abe.
“Here’s the thing, a lot of people come to these neighborhood pools to do not good things,” the sergeant says.
“Yeah but it makes sense if like you smell the weed in here, you know what I mean? But I’m just sitting here on my phone and I was actually making a phone call,” Abe says, laughing again.
The two start talking over each other, essentially refusing to agree with each other. The sergeant concedes that the officers did run his license plates and confirm that Abe was who he said he was.
Abe again asks if he’s free to sit in his car, and the sergeant replies, “Yeah, I don’t see any reason why not.”
She asks if there’s anything else she can do for Abe, and he says, “Nothing else, that was it. I’d just like to be left alone unless I did commit a crime. That’s all I’d ask.”
“I know but we don’t know if you’re committing a crime,” the sergeant says. “Unless we come up and talk to you, we don’t know.”
At that point, the sergeants begins walking away, and Abe tells her to have a safe night, adding, “I hope y’all do run into some issues that isn’t me.”
The Daily Dot has reached out to user @ayoabegot223 via TikTok comment.