An incident involving two Detroit police officers is now under an internal investigation after a Black veteran of the force claims he was racially profiled by his white comrade.
According to Fox 2, the event in question took place on June 6 at the city’s police training center. Christopher Williams says he was dressed in plain clothes while fulfilling an annual requirement for the force. In his possession was $5,000 in cash that his girlfriend, a fellow officer, gave him to purchase money orders to pay household bills.
Based on the account Williams gave to Fox 2, before the end of the day-long training, he was approached by a white officer who questioned him about the sum of money he saw him putting in his pocket while in the bathroom, prior to. The White officer, who NBC News notes had been on the force for three years, compared to Williams’ 15, then proceeded to rough up the veteran officer and handcuff him.
“I said what the f are you doing,” Williams recalled to Fox 2. “I was confused. He’s like, ‘You’re not supposed to have this much money on you.’”
Williams’ girlfriend, who was present during the confrontation, quickly de-escalated the situation by showing the white officer the bank statement that proved the large bank withdrawal. However, by that time the damage had been done.
Williams has retained the legal counsel of Todd Perkins who is pressing the Detroit Police Department to take action against the White cop. “In 2019 that should make you afraid, Perkins said of the over-aggressive nature of the unidentified officer. “This is an individual who is policing the streets of a predominately African-American city, he should not be on the streets.”
Assistant Police Chief James White said on Friday during a video posted to Facebook, that he would reserve judgment on whether or not the incident was a case of profiling, but did say the matter was under investigation.