An incident at a bus stop - biking white black
This morning, I was at the Howard 'L' station, waiting for a bus that would take me to the Village of Niles for an assignment. Aside from rain starting and stopping and starting again, it was just a usual morning...
...Until a police car pulled right into the spot where my bus would stop.
Within moments, I saw two other cops leading a teenager toward the car. The teen was black. The two cops that led him - and the one cop that got out of the car - were white.
The cops asked the teen to lean against the car and searched him. The third cop searched his bag. The teen was quiet and cooperative. One could I almost see what was going through his head. If I cooperate, this is going to blow over.
A black guy closer to my age came up to the cops.
"What are you arresting him for?" he asked. He was very carefully trying not to be confrontational, but you could tell from his voice that he was already imagining some awful frame-up.
"For riding his bike on the sidewalk," one of the cops responded.
Biking on sidewalks has been illegal in Chicago for a number of years. According to the most recent version of he law, this isn't an arrestable offense - you just have to pay a $150 fine. Hardly anything that would warrant a body search.
Just then, my bus pulled up. Because the police car was in its usual spot, it had to stop a bit further behind.
Because today is Memorial Day, the buses were running on holiday schedule. If I didn't get on that bus, I would miss the event, and wouldn't be able to do my assignment. So I got on.
As the bus pulled away, I saw the police car drive off.
I tried to see if the teenager was in the back seat. I didn't think he was, but I couldn't be sure.
I've seen cops stop white teens who were biking on sidewalks. But those stops never involved body searches.
...Until a police car pulled right into the spot where my bus would stop.
Within moments, I saw two other cops leading a teenager toward the car. The teen was black. The two cops that led him - and the one cop that got out of the car - were white.
The cops asked the teen to lean against the car and searched him. The third cop searched his bag. The teen was quiet and cooperative. One could I almost see what was going through his head. If I cooperate, this is going to blow over.
A black guy closer to my age came up to the cops.
"What are you arresting him for?" he asked. He was very carefully trying not to be confrontational, but you could tell from his voice that he was already imagining some awful frame-up.
"For riding his bike on the sidewalk," one of the cops responded.
Biking on sidewalks has been illegal in Chicago for a number of years. According to the most recent version of he law, this isn't an arrestable offense - you just have to pay a $150 fine. Hardly anything that would warrant a body search.
Just then, my bus pulled up. Because the police car was in its usual spot, it had to stop a bit further behind.
Because today is Memorial Day, the buses were running on holiday schedule. If I didn't get on that bus, I would miss the event, and wouldn't be able to do my assignment. So I got on.
As the bus pulled away, I saw the police car drive off.
I tried to see if the teenager was in the back seat. I didn't think he was, but I couldn't be sure.
I've seen cops stop white teens who were biking on sidewalks. But those stops never involved body searches.