A two-part video showing a police officer and a Black diner’s encounter in a Pennsylvania restaurant is making the rounds on social media. The man filming the video accuses the cop of “racially profiling” him throughout the encounter.
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The video was signal boosted by the Fifty Shades of Whey Twitter account; the first part of the video, with the majority of the interaction, is close to 900,000 views as of Tuesday afternoon.
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The Fifty Shades of Whey account characterizes this video as a “cop in Pennsylvania who sounds drunk racially profiles an innocent Black man.” While that’s conjecture on the account’s part, the video does show the cop mocking the customer for accusing him of racial profiling, as well as repeatedly asking for his ID and then making a show of running his license number for warrants and a criminal record check when he does procure it.
(He also appears to have a bit of trouble correctly conveying the license number to headquarters over his walkie-talkie, perhaps feeding into the Twitter account’s narrative.
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The video starts with the cop telling the diner, “I got called here for you,” and then he radios for another unit when the Black man refuses to present his ID.
“Please bring your superior here, sir,” the diner asks calmly as he continues to film.
“I am your superior,” the cop slurs in response. “My badge number is 4!”
A report from WTAE-TV cleared things up a bit. The man who filmed the incident, Marcus Townsend, said he was at G&G Restaurant in Vandergrift, a town about 30 miles northeast of Pittsburgh, with his girlfriend and her service dog on Saturday.
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“It was just a big ordeal that he wanted me out of the store, basically that’s what he wanted from the jump,” he told the reporter. “He didn’t want to argue. He already had what he wanted to do in the first place so I was just sitting there taking the rap for the whole mess.”
When the police had issue with the service dog being in the restaurant, Townsend’s girlfriend left with the dog. And that’s when the officer who has now gone viral started the interaction.
“Whenever she got up and took the dog home that’s when he started, you know, talking about, I smell weed, we came over here about weed, you were smoking dope outside, and I was like, no, I wasn’t smoking. I wasn’t doing nothing. I came here for my breakfast,” he said.
According to the Daily Dot, the Vandergrift Police Department is reportedly conducting an internal investigation into the incident. The officer, identified as William Moore, is currently on paid leave, according to TribLIVE. Upon the conclusion of the review, the town’s council will decide whether Moore will return to his post.
Also, as the article continued, “This is not the first time Moore has been removed from the job. According to TribLIVE, he was previously put on paid leave in 2017 after being charged with assaulting and harassing a 14-year-old boy. He was also reportedly suspended in 2018 for unknown reasons.”
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The restaurant chimed in via Facebook, noting, “The entire day we have been deeply saddened by what occurred today. The situation was inexcusable and we completely condemn any type of demeaning behavior towards any individual who walks through our doors. Our entire goal is for every person visiting our restaurant to be able to enjoy their entire experience and for us to serve our community. If I can leave with anything, I would like to tell every single one of our friends and customers to always keep in the back of their mind to always be kind and to always strive to morally be the best that you can be.”
*First Published: April 28, 2021, 5:04 am
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