Today I was supposed to take a co worker and friend to an apartment so she could get information on it because she's facing eviction from the place she can barley afford, and is behind on, right now. I pulled onto the side of 543 where I've seen others and Taxis sit to pick people up from the same spot. The whole way down the turn lane I had my hazards going and when I came to a complete stop I pulled the emergency brake. After that I honked to let her know I was there and looked down to turn off my MP3 player, when I looked back up I saw flashing lights in the rear view right behind me. A cop car, though I don't know if it was state or local.

The cop approached my car and stood at my driver's side window asking if I was alright. I told him that I was okay and I was there to pick someone up, at that point he turned and started walking back to his car. He made it as far as my rear driver's side door. While we had this conversation, and he started to leave, my friend made it from her front door to my passenger side door. When he saw and realized that I was there to pick up a black woman he turned back around and his entire attitude changed. He asked for my driver's licence and registration, I was fine with that because I know it's how cops catch people doing bad things. People who have warrants. I have a spotless record so I wasn't worried. After waiting for five minutes, it could have been a little more, he approached my car again to hand me back my things. I assumed he was going to ask me to not park there again, despite there being a football field's length ( almost ) between my car and where cars in that lane actually turn. I would have had no issue with that. I do what cops ask and always have. Along with giving me back my things he gives me a citation.

Now if he was going to run my information and give me a citation why did he start to head back to his car after our initial conversation? Why did he turn around and change his entire attitude when he realized a black woman is who I was picking up? On top of that he argued with me about how long I had been sitting there, which even my friend pointed out was less than five minutes. That is between stopping, honking, and her getting to my car. I'm livid about this. I never thought that I'd be a victim of racism, or profiling. No matter how you paint it I was targeted because of who and what I was picking up. He was set on leaving me be and letting me go on my way until he found that out. Otherwise he wouldn't have turned to walk back to his car and leave.


That's the email I sent to my local news agency. Honestly? I'm livid about this. I never thought I'd be a victim of it, nor did I dream that it could happen. I'm at a loss of what to do really. Outside of speaking out about it I still have to handle it on a personal level, still considering a lawyer. Even if a judge dismisses the citation I can't let this pass. I refuse to.