US police accused of racial profiling

Perry wrote on his Facebook page earlier this week about a tense encounter with the police, which he suggested “could have turned for the worse.”

He said he was leaving his southwest Atlanta studio last month when he made an illegal left turn to ensure he could shake anyone who might be following him. The police immediately pulled him over.

Perry noted that the officers were overly “hostile,” asking him, “Why do you think someone is following you? What is wrong with you?”

“It was so hostile,” wrote Perry. “I was so confused. It was happening so fast that I could easily see how this situation could get out of hand very quickly. I didn’t feel safe at all.”

He pointed out that the police officers’ behavior made him remember his mother’s warnings about how to deal with the police as a black man: never resist or make any quick moves.

The tension was finally defused after another police cruiser pulled up to the scene, Perry wrote.

“This officer was a black guy,” he wrote. “He took one look at me and had that ‘Oh No’ look on his face.”

The black officer spoke “in a hushed tone” to the two white officers, he said.

“After that, one of the officers stayed near his car while one came back, very apologetic,” Perry wrote.

Meanwhile, the Atlanta Police Department said it was looking into the incident. “Mr. Perry’s concerns… will be the basis for referral of the matter to the department’s Office of Professional Standards,” a spokesman said.

“The Office of Professional Standards (OPS) has opened an investigation to determine if Mr. Perry’s claims can be substantiated, and whether any departmental policies or procedures were violated during the stop,” he added.

The incident comes as thousands of demonstrators and supporters have marched across the United States, calling for justice in the February 26 killing of black teenager Trayvon Martin.

The 17-year-old boy was fatally shot while visiting his father in Sanford, Florida, by self-described neighborhood watchman George Zimmerman.

MP/HJL/AZ

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