Police respond to a burglary in an upscale neighborhood. Police spot black man walking down the street carrying bags. Police detain said black man with bags because…suspicious. And sadly, said black man was never involved in a burglary.
That’s a pretty accurate narrative of “Walking While Black,” but in this particular case that unfolded in the Washington D.C. neighborhood of Foxhall Crescent, that black man was released from detainment because a neighbor, a white lawyer named Jody Westby, wasn’t about to let a wrongful arrest go down.
In the video above, Westby, and all her confident legal jargon, confronts a black officer and demands to know why the man, Dennis Stucky, was detained.
“Excuse me, what address did you get a call for?” she says before walking over to the car to verify the address the call received was for. As it turns out, they were on the wrong block — the alarm had sounded in an adjacent subdivision.
That’s when Westby told her housekeeper to start filming. From the sounds of their voices, it’s clear that Westby, the camera person and Stucky all know each other. Westby explains that they’re in the wrong place, and — after smiling for the camera — the officer explains that stopping Stucky was reasonable.
The police officer, tells Westby that Stucky was stopped because he had bags. She continues, telling Westby that the man was loud and “boisterous” when confronted.
Westby, jargon aside, hits the police with some common sense.
“Because you’re accusing him,” Westby retorts.
“I’m not accusing him of anything,” the officer says.
And in what the Washington Post describes as a shocking moment that would never happen in neighborhoods far from the wealthy air of Foxhall, Westby grabs Stucky to walk away, but not before letting the officer in the police cruiser know exactly how she feels.
“She doesn’t have the authority to stop him,” Westby replies, “I’m an attorney and this is wrong. Now please leave our neighborhood.”
“Would you like a card?” is the officer in the car’s reply.
“Just because he’s black, doesn’t mean he’s here to rob a house. He works for us he’s been in this neighborhood for 30 years,” Westby adds.
Given that most of the police interactions we’ve watched over the past few months have involved innocent adults and teenagers getting shot for reaching for a license, choked to death over suspicion, or stunned with a Taser for….well for no reason at all, then you can imagine our surprise at this polite exchange.
Let’s all be real. Race is a huge part of this equation. And officers, black and white, need a major overhaul when it comes to racial bias, police brutality (verbal and physical) and this idea that they are here to serve and protect us all. Because that’s not the truth. And that’s something even Westby knows.
“You got a white woman and a Hispanic woman standing up for a black man against two black cops. … It was shameful how they behaved. And if it were Columbia Heights, or some other neighborhood, it’d probably just be worse,” Westby said Tuesday. She is the CEO of Global Cyber Risk LLC and was working from her home office that day.
“It was very interesting, in the sense of getting a picture of how black cops treat black people,” she continued. “And how humiliating that was for [Stucky]. And how they were treating him just like a dog.”
Watch the video above and let us know how you feel about the exchange in the comments below.
SOURCE: Washington Post | VIDEO SOURCE: YouTube
