After spending an idealic day picnicking and watching the Baltimore Orioles at Camden Yard for the first time, Joshua Kelly and Llara Brook of Chantilly, VA, headed home after getting directions. As they navigated their way home, they got lost and ended up in south Baltimore. Unfortunately for them, they ran a stop sign and were pulled over by officer Natalie Preston. After writing them a ticket, she refused to give them directions. Instead, according to Kelly, she said, "You found your own way in here, you can find your own way out." Kelly added that when they flagged another officer down to get help, Officer Preston intervened and said, "My partner is not going to step in front of me and tell you directions if I'm not." Desperate for help, Kelly pulled the car next to a curb, and Brook called her dad for help. As she was getting directions, Officer Preston pulled up behind them, told Kelly to get out of the car and arrested him for trespassing (on a public street). When Brook pleaded for help and said that she could not leave Kelly there, Officer Preston told her that would be going downtown also. The couple spent eight hours in jail and were released without being charged. Baltimore City police are investigating the incident.
See http://www.thewbalchannel.com/news/9229472/detail.html for all the details.
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5 comments:
On the face of it, it looks like the cop was having a bad day and decided to take it out on the kids. Of course, for some people having a bad day and acting on it has about the net effect of a pesky mosquito. On the other hand, a city representative having a bad day and acting upon it at the expense of two innocent citizens, will probably have implications of job limbo for the cop and a potential lawsuit against the city.
In my experience, however, I sense that there's probably more to the story than what we're hearing from these young people. They could be completely innocent, but the cop's reaction seems to have been provoked.
Joseph, I can't see where you perceive that positive aspect of the copper's attitude and action especially since the couple was not charged even though detained and/or arrested. It should be interesting to see the results of the police investigation and any civil suit brought against the officer and/or city.
Hey, if she's a bad apple, I'd like to see her get her due. We'll just have to let the story work itself out.
I don't necessarily mean this in a racist way, but 10 to 1 she's a black cop and is racist My brother lives in the area and says it is pretty pathetic what goes on up there in the government offices. Some black women don't even show up for work and still get paid but nothing is done for fear of reprisal, just because they are black and they would sue the government for racism.
Of course, Joseph is probably right in that there is more to the story than meets the eye. On the other hand, let us consider the influence of radicals such as Al Sharpton, Calypso Louie and others who encourage giving whitey a hard time.
I ran into a black woman at the ticket counter at O'Hare in Chicago who was less than conciliatory When we asked if we could board a plane that had just closed the ramp (that we saw close) and asked if we could board because the flight had just gotten in a few gates down she replied "I'm certainly not...". We didn't get on because she was bellicose towards us, unsympathetic to the fact that we just got there! We spent the night and flew out the following morning. I got the distinct impression that she did it because we were white, not because we were delayed because of our flight.
Sorry for the imcomplete thoughts in the last post. My mind is on our trip today and not on being coherant.
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