Do you personally know a police officer who arrested someone because of race? If so, what happened?

CPT (Join to see) - Watched my roommate of two years get "Rodney King'ed" in our front lawn. We was subsequently jailed after the WWE beat-down. Less than six weeks after that incident, he was awarded an tremendous amount of money by (redacted) County of Colorado. I suppose the DA decided 1.) They got the wrong guy, and 2.) It was not OK to beat up an innocent man. The arresting officer was overly apologetic after the deposition. Seemed they were looking for three young black men driving a late-model, metallic-colored Mustang. They beat up two cadets and one Midshipmen driving my '82 Subaru GL who were wearing matching Phi-Psi fraternity jackets... very popular gang "colors." Yeah... It was racial profiling, Gone Wrong. Although I do believe that particular police department has substantially improved. But at the time, it took the testimony of a white man to straighten things out.

I apprehended a SGT who raced out of the Burger King at Patrick Henry Village. He blew a .14 and his career.

I did the federal thing for most of my career. Customs. And we were specifically told you can never select a person based on race. I don't know of anyone who was ever singled out or punished for doing that. All that said, we were told that we can take into account where a person came from. E.g. Blood diamonds, narco trafficking, terrorisn, smuggling. So how can a cop on any level do what I just said and not look like they're discriminating?

Back in the 80's as a Reservist, I did a few ride-a-longs with my 1SG, a Minneapolis Cop.

One evening there was a building scheduled for demolition the following morning. The place was rigged with explosives and ready to make some dust. The streets surrounding the building were cordoned off. As we made a pass in the Squad car, some (Black) idiot was wandering across the street towards the building. Jim (my 1SG) told him to turn around and go to the other side of the street. The fool kept walking towards the building. He was arrested for "Aggravated Jay-walking". The entire time in the back seat he kept screaming and pulling the race card. His last name was Washington and Jim told me he was a known trouble-maker.

At the time I was a School Bus Driver and we did Charter runs too. Less than a week later I was downtown with several other drivers. One driver was a hot female named Char. Freaking sure enough here comes Washington harassing Char. Several people told him to leave her alone and he kept messing with her. As I walked up I screamed "WASHINGTON! YOU WANT TO SPEND ANOTHER NIGHT LIKE SATURDAY?!" He recognized me and started walking across the street the other way. Then I screamed "USE THE PEDESTRIAN CROSSING!" Funny as hell, he went back to the sidewalk and quick-stepped to the crossing and waited for the light to turn green.

Without a doubt he had a chip on his shoulder and everything was all about race. The reality is, he's a fucking idiot.

Bad police officers do bad things and tarnish the reputation of the officers who are trying to improve their community. As a police officer, I never stopped, detained, or arrested anyone simply because of race or ethnicity. If I detained or arrested an individual, it was because I had reasonable belief they had violated a law.

Yes Sir, I was arrested for DV, my fiance'is white and I'm black, wasn't treated well by them either, to include what they said in their reports, but all charges were dismissed. So depending on where you're at it could be the main reason, but it's honestly not as bad as the media makes it out to be

With all the officers I know and have served with (my best man is a cop) I have never known ONE to arrest someone based on race. Cops go after bad guys. They patrol in neighborhoods more prone to crime. The likelihood of getting smacked if you act like a disrespectful punk is pretty high regardless the environment, race, ethnicity or shoe size. Cops have a tough job and just want to go home to their families after a shift just like the rest of us. If you have run a stop sign going 10 miles over the posted limit, the cop hasn't pulled you over because of the color of your skin....

I served as a California peace officer. I promise you, in most traffic stops, especially those made after dark, you don't know the race of the occupants until after you have stopped them and approached their vehicle. Pedestrian stops are different, but on those you are most frequently looking for a specific suspect described in the initial call for service. I seriously doubt the responses to that last option; "On multiple occasions I witness race being the primary reason for arrest". Our jails were never so empty we had to come up with 'bogus arrests' to keep the population inflated.

No not recently but do recall some events down south that were really tough to believe.

Six years as a sworn law enforcement officer. Particularly when making traffic stops, I never knew the race of the person I was stopping until after the stop was made. Try it some time - drive behind a car and tell the race of the driver. Given seat belts, head rests, and high seats, you just can't tell.