Police Use of Force by Michael J. Palmiotto

Author:Michael J. Palmiotto
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: CRC Press

Theme 2: Symbolic Vehicle

The second theme that emerged from the interviews highlight the frustration and anger of being stopped for what they say is for stereotyping because of their race coupled with in some cases the type of car they drive. This was the case with Ana, a 34-year-old college-educated Hispanic female and former correctional officer now employed as an advocate for crime victims. Ana describes the anger and frustration she felt and how she questioned the officer’s motive.

I was driving a 1985 Cutlass Supreme low rider. It had gold plates. My family is in the business of customizing cars. My brother borrowed my car that day because he had a job out of town and my car got better gas mileage. My son had a doctor’s appointment and I had to get him there. I asked my brother if I could use his car because my son needed medicine. He said, no sweat, take my Cutlass, we just painted it, but it’s ready. My brother said to take his wife’s tag and put it on the car. That tag had not been registered because they were restoring the car and they hadn’t used it in forever.

Ana recalls that this was a onetime thing and that she just wanted “to get from point A to point B and back with no problems.” She continues her story.

The car had very expensive rims and sits low to the ground…I saw the sheriff’s car traveling in front of me. I was a behind him a little ways. I made a turn onto [location purposively taken out] and noticed that the sheriff’s car made a U-turn and got behind me and started following me. Now I am a very good driver and I was thinking to myself that this can’t be happening. I know from my friends that they will stop you if you’re driving a low rider because they think you are just gang banging Mexicans. He followed me for a while, maybe a mile or so and then stopped me. By this time I was pretty upset about what was happening… When he came up to the car I told him you better have a good reason to stop me. He told me he was randomly running tags and that he ran my tag and it was not assigned to the vehicle. I remember thinking he is stopping me because I’m driving a low rider which they associate with Mexican gang members. I got upset and yelled at him. I was yelling that this is not a serious thing and why did you turn around and follow me in the first place. He told me to get out of the car because I was being verbally aggressive. I kept on questioning him about why he turned around and started to follow me. He then grabbed me and forcibly pulled me from my car and handcuffed me. I remember that he searched me in front of his video camera. He searched my car and impounded it and he refused to let my brother pick it up.

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