A police officer in Indianapolis, Indiana has been fired after a video of a confrontation that involved him and two Black department store customers went viral.
What We Know:
- On November 12, 2019, Lawrence Township Deputy Constable Daryl Jones approached cousins, Aaron Blackwell and Durell Cunningham, as they were driving out of the parking lot of a Nordstrom Rack store. Jones was reportedly off duty at the time and had been working security at the store.
- After realizing Jones had been watching them make their purchases inside the store and then followed them outside, the two men began filming. They posted the video onto YouTube with the title “Harassed by low-life racist cop for spending big money”. In the video, Jones can be seen approaching the car and demanding that the driver provide identification. When the men questioned why they were being asked for ID, Jones replied: “Because I told you to.”
- Jones said the men were acting suspiciously and declined to identify himself. As the exchange became heated, the men insisted that Jones call his supervisor, while he repeatedly demanded to see their ID. “I got my rights to do anything I want to do, I’m a police officer,” he said.
- The confrontation ended after an Indianapolis Metropolitan Police Department officer arrived at the scene. The IMPD officer says he saw no reason to believe a crime had taken place. When asked by the IMPD officer what reason he had for stopping the young men, Jones said that they had not stolen anything but they had been acting “suspicious”. The IMPD officer then explained to the cousins while Jones could run their license plates, he should not have asked them for identification unless he suspected a crime had taken place.
Lawrence Township Constable Terry Burns viewed the video and Jones was officially terminated on November 13, 2019.
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