Police bodycam video casts doubt on lawmaker’s ‘driving while black’ claim
By Jorge Fitz-Gibbon
New York Post
July 14, 2021


The cop then returns to his squad car and runs a check on Thompson’s license.
After 14 minutes, the unnamed officer returns to Thompson and tells him his license in Minnesota is suspended, the footage shows.
The state rep shakes his head, but the officer tells him, “that’s what the computer says. If it’s wrong, you’ll have to deal with DVS,” or the Department of Vehicle Services.
Thompson then asks the cop why he was pulled over.
“No front plate, and the way you took off from the light back there,” the officer says.
“I’m too old to run from the police, man,” Thompson says. “You profiled me because you looked me dead in the fact and I got a ticket for driving while black.
“You pulled me over because you saw a black face in this car, brother,” the lawmaker said. “There’s no way in hell I’m taking off with you behind me. You looked in this car and busted a U-turn and got behind my car, and that’s the reason.”
The officer tells him “it’s on camera.”
“I know, but what you’re doing is wrong to black men, and you need to stop that,” Thompson said before the cop walks back to his vehicle.
St. Paul Police Chief Todd Axtell later fired back at Thompson’s claims, KSTP-TV said.
“Simply put, the traffic stop was by the book,” Axtell told the station on Friday. “What happened afterward was anything but. I’m dismayed and disappointed by the state representative’s response to the stop.“Rather than taking responsibility for his own decisions and actions, he attempted to deflect, cast aspersions, and deny any wrongdoing,” the chief said.
Thompson did not respond to numerous requests for comment from KSTP.
The outlet said Thompson has never had a Minnesota driver’s license and said his “driving privileges” were suspended in 2019 due to unpaid child support.
1 comment:
Unpaid child support? Just another deadbeat.
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