Does the VICTIM CRAPOLA ever stop?
Ever?
Hate to break it to this fool but I'm white and have been pulled over going with the flow also. Does that mean I should contact the media and cry me a river?
Please someone win the lotto and share with me as I need an island to get away from this insanity!
Woman wonders if she was pulled over for 'driving while black'
By Lindsay Cohen
Published: Jul 24, 2015 at 6:00 PM PDT Last Updated: Jul 24, 2015 at 6:42 PM PDT
SEATTLE -- It started with one photo -- one post to Twitter -- and has turned into a dialogue about race and law enforcement.
Ijeoma Oluo, a Seattle-based writer, said she tweeted a picture to her more than 17,000 followers during a traffic stop on I-5 Wednesday "just in case." With other encounters between police and people of color turning violent or even fatal recently, Oluo, who is black, wanted there to be a record, should something happen.
"My brother is a 6' 6" tall black man. We both have had situations where we have been pulled over for what seems like a routine stop that turns into a threatening situation," Oluo said. "As a person of color, these things add up. Time and time and time again, you seem to be 'randomly picked' for these things."
The traffic stop happened in Pierce County, as Oluo was driving with her two brothers to Onalaska. She was with a group of roughly 12 other cars, all who were doing about 5 miles an hour over the speed limit.
"I really wanted to know why -- why this cop decided to drive across three lanes of traffic to pick out a car in the middle of multiple cars all going the same speed," she said. "The answer could've been, 'I just locked on your radar.' Maybe he didn't even see us, but I didn't feel comfortable asking."
Oluo wrote about her experience for The Stranger. On Friday, it was still among the most-commented stories on the publication's website.
It is virtually impossible to see the identity of someone behind the wheel when they are travelling at highway speeds, countered Sargeant Paul Cagle, a spokesman for the Washington State Patrol. It is especially difficult when a radar or LiDAR device is in front of a trooper's face, he added.
"They'll have that device right up to their eye. There's a window and a flip-up display. They're looking, monitoring traffic," Cagle said. "If you've got a group of cars that appear to be in excess of the speed limit, you can only pick one car you can check the speed of."
Cagle drove along I-5 Friday, pointing at cars he saw and describing what he was observing: seat belt infractions, obscured license plates, cell phone violations, and more.
"I'm specifically looking at the vehicle itself, and not necessarily who's behind the wheel of the car. My interest is what the vehicle is doing," he said. "There's really no way to make out race, gender, anything on that person."
When asked about Oluo's ticket, Cagle insisted the Seattle mother of two was not pulled over because of the color of her skin.
"Not at all," he said. "As I mentioned before, it's very difficult to make out race and gender as we're scanning the vehicles."
He emphasized that anyone who has had an issue with a trooper should contact a district office.
Oluo -- who decribed the trooper as professional and business-like -- hasn't decided if she is going to fight the $100 traffic violation.
"I would love to once be able to drive and not think of myself as a black woman driving," she said.
Apparently, "vegetarian" is an old Indian word for "bad hunter."
