Notice of complaint related to 2023-0245

DATE OF CUSTED
OFFICE OF
POLICE OVERSIGHT
FOUNDED
NOTICE OF COMPLAINT
March 31, 2023
ICMS #: 2023-0245
On March 27, 2023, the OPO received an online complaint.
The complainant alleges:
Location:
Regarding
Regarding
I was at the
I watched an officer drop an African
American male off. I was in view of him walking into the building because I was right by
the door the entire time. I got their about
and he arrived around
.
I overheard a White Male Security say, "Oh, they just dropped him off."
The African American male looked like he just had been released from incarceration.
However, he was peaceful the entire time he was in the building. He never screamed out,
shouted at anyone, or did anything to disturb folk in the building.
The next thing I know, I watch the White Security guard walk up to him and start
interrogating him over a spilled drink. The African American male kept asking why he was
bothering him. He said, "I am just here to get a check and I am leaving, why are you
bothering me man." He kept asking the security guard this.
Then the situation turned for the worse. The security guard walks up to the desk that I am
standing next to and calls the police. He lies the entire time he on the phone to get them
back out on the scene. I still cannot believe that I am reporting this incident because it was
unnecessary.
OF
CHILL
COMPANY
OFFICE OF
POLICE OVERSIGHT
NOTICE OF COMPLAINT
A police officer arrives on the scene and goes where the African American male is sitting
and talks with him. Then another cop (Cop #2) enters the building (why was he called -
this man not acting out in any way?) There conversation was not loud it was peaceful. I
remember the cop say to the African American male that he was going to talk with the
security guard to see if he could stay.
Cop #1 gets up and goes towards the security guard and have a conversation. Then it gets
baffling. Officer #2 (
standing by the African American male as Officer #1 walks
up to him. He then tells him he must leave (All Because A WHITE security guard did not
want him in the building). The situation elevates where the African American male is now
trying to reason with the cops about why he has to leave.
Yes, the conversation escalated and got louder between the accused and the officers. They
then handcuff him and take him out the building. I am for what is right and this was terrible
to watch a Black man do nothing and get hauled off to jail. I got my stuff and walked right
behind them. They were wrong and the security guard was wrong.
I walk up the police car and stand there for a few seconds and ask can I speak with them.
They both were rude to me. I asked one of them if they talked to their mother, the way they
addressed me. They continue to touch his body as if he was not human and treated him as
such. It was very alarming to watch all of this go down.
They took their precious time; I asked them again if I could speak with them and they tell
me to hold on. Officer
then walks up to me and is rude again; I say to him that I
did not want to talk with him because he was rude. Officer #1 - was rude too. My tax
dollars are paying cops to talk to me indifferently, because I saw what was going on and it
was out of order.
I ask Officer #1 to walk with my a few feet from him car - by my car. He said he could not
do that. I stood in my same position, and I ask him again, why did you arrest this man? His
response, "He was trespassing." The security guard did not want him here.
OF
GINE
CUSTOM
OFFICE OF
POLICE OVERSIGHT
FOUNDED
NOTICE OF COMPLAINT
I am still stuck on this that he was trespassing in a public institution that the APD dropped
him off at? Does that make any sense to you who is reading this statement? He could not
be in the building because a WHITE security guard did not want him there.
I do not appreciate the officers being rude and upset that I was standing up for an innocent
person! As a Black woman, I was appalled by their behavior and lack of care for human
dignity.
I needed to report this incident. Mental Illness is real and Black Lives Do Matter!
This notice of complaint is a request for Internal Affairs to initiate an investigation to
determine if the employee conduct is within compliance of APD policy, Civil Service
Rules, and Municipal Civil Service Rules.