# NC: Cops pepper spray black foster son of white family **URL:** \ **Category:** The BBQ Pit\ **Created:** [October 8, 2014, 8:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nc-cops-pepper-spray-black-foster-son-of-white-family/700795 "2014-10-08T20:17:25Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 11
**Author:** ![Hamlet](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hamlet/32/2818_2.png) [@Hamlet](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hamlet)\ **Post date:** [October 9, 2014, 6:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nc-cops-pepper-spray-black-foster-son-of-white-family/700795/201 "2014-10-09T18:07:40Z")
> [@iiandyiiii](#): > > Probably keep talking to him unless he actually initiates violence. I think that is a recipe for disaster. Why should the police have to wait until they actually get attacked before ensuring their safety? When faced with an angry, confrontational person who refuses to cooperate and threatens them with physical harm, you would have them wait until he actually does that physical harm before they can subdue him? Luckily the courts disagree. ---
**Author:** ![Eonwe](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/eonwe/32/240_2.png) [@Eonwe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Eonwe)\ **Post date:** [October 9, 2014, 6:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nc-cops-pepper-spray-black-foster-son-of-white-family/700795/202 "2014-10-09T18:07:41Z")
> [@billfish678](#): > > So, when cops come upon a situation that needs investigating the possible perp is supposed to prove their guilt? Not every possible perp. This is not a referendum on all police actions everywhere all the time. This is about police going to the house of a law-abiding citizen on the report that the neighbors saw him and didn’t recognize him. They should respond to the call, but the assumption should be that he belongs there, that he is not a criminal, and that the neighbors are over reacting. Had he been reported going in through a window or something it might be different. But, there was _no suspicious/criminal behavior_. Don’t treat him like a criminal. Don’t assume he’s lying. ---
**Author:** ![Hamlet](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hamlet/32/2818_2.png) [@Hamlet](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hamlet)\ **Post date:** [October 9, 2014, 6:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nc-cops-pepper-spray-black-foster-son-of-white-family/700795/203 "2014-10-09T18:08:47Z")
> [@Eonwe](#): > > Ah. My bad and poor transcribing skills. I still stand by all my opinions, which are based on the fact that he entered the house through an unlocked door, and not by breaking in. And had an ID with a different address. You left that one out. ---
**Author:** ![iiandyiiii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/iiandyiiii/32/7924_2.png) [@iiandyiiii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/iiandyiiii)\ **Post date:** [October 9, 2014, 6:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nc-cops-pepper-spray-black-foster-son-of-white-family/700795/204 "2014-10-09T18:09:37Z")
> [@Hamlet](#): > > I think that is a recipe for disaster. Why should the police have to wait until they actually get attacked before ensuring their safety? When faced with an angry, confrontational person who refuses to cooperate and threatens them with physical harm, you would have them wait until he actually does that physical harm before they can subdue him? > > Luckily the courts disagree. I know the courts disagree. Part of the ongoing problem here is the legal authority the police have, such that it’s pretty easy for them to justify using force – it’s very rare for cops actually to be prosecuted for excessive force, [even when they are sued and admit wrongdoing](http://www.vice.com/read/how-can-we-stop-cops-from-beating-and-killing-109). I don’t think it should be so easy. ---
**Author:** ![Eonwe](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/eonwe/32/240_2.png) [@Eonwe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Eonwe)\ **Post date:** [October 9, 2014, 6:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nc-cops-pepper-spray-black-foster-son-of-white-family/700795/205 "2014-10-09T18:13:28Z")
> [@Hamlet](#): > > And had an ID with a different address. You left that one out. I didn’t leave it out. It’s irrelevant. Maybe it’s grandma. Maybe it’s a friend who’s watering the plants. Maybe it’s the kid home from college whose license has his/her school address. It’s clear that “ID” is not going to be definitive proof of anything for any number of people who might be in or live in a home. ---
**Author:** ![Cheesesteak](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cheesesteak/32/3694_2.png) [@Cheesesteak](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cheesesteak)\ **Post date:** [October 9, 2014, 6:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nc-cops-pepper-spray-black-foster-son-of-white-family/700795/206 "2014-10-09T18:18:24Z")
> [@Eonwe](#): > > I didn’t leave it out. It’s irrelevant. Maybe it’s grandma. Maybe it’s a friend who’s watering the plants. Maybe it’s the kid home from college whose license has his/her school address. It’s clear that “ID” is not going to be definitive proof of anything for any number of people who might be in or live in a home. Or, it’s a burglar. If it’s a friend watering the plants, or a housesitter, should the police just leave? The correct action cannot be for the police to leave without positively identifying the person, and confirming residence or permission from the owner. It just can’t. Not when there’s a burglary complaint. ---
**Author:** ![Hamlet](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hamlet/32/2818_2.png) [@Hamlet](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hamlet)\ **Post date:** [October 9, 2014, 6:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nc-cops-pepper-spray-black-foster-son-of-white-family/700795/207 "2014-10-09T18:18:39Z")
> [@Eonwe](#): > > I didn’t leave it out. It’s irrelevant. See, now you’re just being silly. When you have to pretend that a person’s listed address on their ID isn’t relevant to determining where they live, you’re trying too damn hard. ---
**Author:** ![Hooleehootoo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/eada6e/32.png) [@Hooleehootoo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hooleehootoo)\ **Post date:** [October 9, 2014, 6:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nc-cops-pepper-spray-black-foster-son-of-white-family/700795/208 "2014-10-09T18:20:39Z")
> [@Shodan](#): > > … **Left Hand of Dorkness** will claim that any report of a black guy breaking into a house owned by white people is just racism and the police shouldn’t do anything because that’s not evidence, and **Marley23** will claim that burglars claiming to be the owners of the places they break into is completely unheard of and then lie about saying it when it is pointed out that it isn’t unheard of and … Is there a bleeping Cop defender in this whole beeping board who is worth his or her salt? Who is saying that cops should not investigate things like this? They are saying the guy should not be pepper sprayed. If Deshawn Currie later admits to picking up a sword, I and a bunch of others will change our minds, but just slapping away someone trying to cuff you? I don’t want to just listen to an echo chamber, but gettin’ ready to ban another cop defender whose handle starts with S. They generate so much fury with their nonsense, it has a crowding-out effect. ---
**Author:** ![billfish678](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/7bcc69/32.png) [@billfish678](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/billfish678)\ **Post date:** [October 9, 2014, 6:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nc-cops-pepper-spray-black-foster-son-of-white-family/700795/209 "2014-10-09T18:21:32Z")
I just realized something. For every black criminal I’ve “known” there have been a few hundred young black men that were adopted by a white family, who insisted on not having a family portrait, preferred that a side door left unlocked be their primary method of house entry, didn’t update their legal ID address to keep down on the unwanted junk mail, telemarketer calls, and spam, whose hobbies included rightous indignation, civil rights activism, and embraced the healthy living movement known as “having a seat = couch potatoism = early death”. My bad. ---
**Author:** ![Stringbean](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/d6d6ee/32.png) [@Stringbean](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Stringbean)\ **Post date:** [October 9, 2014, 6:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nc-cops-pepper-spray-black-foster-son-of-white-family/700795/210 "2014-10-09T18:25:37Z")
> [@Eonwe](#): > > I didn’t leave it out. It’s irrelevant. Maybe it’s grandma. Maybe it’s a friend who’s watering the plants. Maybe it’s the kid home from college whose license has his/her school address. It’s clear that “ID” is not going to be definitive proof of anything for any number of people who might be in or live in a home. LOL. It’s irrelevant. You win the internetz. ---
**Author:** ![ElvisL1ves](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/5daacb/32.png) [@ElvisL1ves](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ElvisL1ves)\ **Post date:** [October 9, 2014, 6:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nc-cops-pepper-spray-black-foster-son-of-white-family/700795/211 "2014-10-09T18:30:33Z")
> [@Hamlet](#): > > When faced with an angry, confrontational person who refuses to cooperate and threatens them with physical harm, you would have them wait until he actually does that physical harm before they can subdue him? > > Luckily the courts disagree. It seems clearer to you than to some of us just \*who \*first became angry and confrontational and threatened physical harm. ---
**Author:** ![Typo\_Negative](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/typo_negative/32/484_2.png) [@Typo\_Negative](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Typo_Negative)\ **Post date:** [October 9, 2014, 6:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nc-cops-pepper-spray-black-foster-son-of-white-family/700795/212 "2014-10-09T18:31:32Z")
> [@Eonwe](#): > > I didn’t leave it out. It’s irrelevant. Maybe it’s grandma. Maybe it’s a friend who’s watering the plants. Maybe it’s the kid home from college whose license has his/her school address. It’s clear that “ID” is not going to be definitive proof of anything for any number of people who might be in or live in a home. OK, hypothetical time. You are at work and no one is in your house. Your neighbors, who you are not close with, see a white male, maybe 17 years old, enter your house. They have never seen this person, but do know that you are _usually_ not home at this time of day. There have been some break ins in the neighborhood recently. Your neighbors call the police. The police send a cruiser to investigate. They see this young man in the house. The appropriate action is…what? [sub]In this scenario, you have information that the police do not have. You know that this young man is UNKNOWN to you and has no business in the house. This fact, though, is irrelevant to the action the police should take[/sub] ---
**Author:** ![ElvisL1ves](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/5daacb/32.png) [@ElvisL1ves](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ElvisL1ves)\ **Post date:** [October 9, 2014, 6:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nc-cops-pepper-spray-black-foster-son-of-white-family/700795/213 "2014-10-09T18:33:27Z")
> [@Eonwe](#): > > Had he been reported going in through a window or something it might be different. But, there was _no suspicious/criminal behavior_. Except for the being black part. Did this neighbor have a history of police calls when seeing unfamiliar foster children in that house? ---
**Author:** ![Eonwe](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/eonwe/32/240_2.png) [@Eonwe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Eonwe)\ **Post date:** [October 9, 2014, 6:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nc-cops-pepper-spray-black-foster-son-of-white-family/700795/214 "2014-10-09T18:43:11Z")
> [@Stringbean](#): > > LOL. It’s irrelevant. You win the internetz. Let me say again: > [@Eonwe](#): > > I didn’t leave it out. It’s irrelevant. Maybe it’s grandma. Maybe it’s a friend who’s watering the plants. Maybe it’s the kid home from college whose license has his/her school address. It’s clear that “ID” is not going to be definitive proof of anything for any number of people who might be in or live in a home. Are those not some of any number of reasons why a person with every right to be in a home might not have ID, or might have ID that does not list said residence as place of residence? And heck, I even left off an obvious one: maybe the kid is a foster child who doesn’t have current, updated ID. I’d debate your point, or listen to your opinion, but I’m not sure what kinds of things you’re thinking critically about that lead you to respond with “LOL” as some kind of meaningful response. Maybe if you clarify “LOL” I might understand your position better, or maybe even think about something I hadn’t thought about before. I appreciate your kind consideration in this matter. ---
**Author:** ![Left\_Hand\_of\_Dorkness](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/left_hand_of_dorkness/32/7156_2.png) [@Left\_Hand\_of\_Dorkness](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Left_Hand_of_Dorkness)\ **Post date:** [October 9, 2014, 7:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nc-cops-pepper-spray-black-foster-son-of-white-family/700795/215 "2014-10-09T19:06:20Z")
> [@Hamlet](#): > > What would you have them do when faced with someone who is threatening them with physical harm, confrontational, won’t calm down, and refusing to sit down calmly while they investigate? I’d have them start with some fucking common sense and de-escalation. They have a report that a dude entered a house through an open door. What in that report sounds like burglary? Well, the dude entering the house was unknown to the caller. So you exercise common sense: caller, do you know the owner of the house? The caller says, no. You ask, why do you think this person wasn’t the owner of the house? The caller says, the dude is black. You hang up. THIS IS NOT EVIDENCE OF A BREAK-IN. But let’s say there’s reason to investigate (which I’m not seeing). You announce yourself, understanding there’s one of two scenarios: 1. You’re dealing with an actual robber, in which case this whole thing is going to end in arrest; or 2. You’re a cop going into someone’s house without their permission and accusing them of being a robber, which is understandably going to piss them off mightily, added to which, you’re a white cop accusing a black kid, which is going to add a whole layer of shit to the whole interaction, in which case the whole thing is going to end in an apology for the terrible mistake. So what you do in this scenario is to de-escalate at every turn, making it crystal-clear to the person involved that they have every right to be angry, and that they can be as mad as they like as long as they take no action that looks like it threatens violence. You let them rant and rave and cuss you out, because c’mon, if the cops walk into my home and accuse me of being a robber, I’ll be pissed off too, and I’m white and don’t have a history of racist action against me by cops. You give the person in the house every opportunity to prove that they belong there. You get creative in how they can make that proof. You ask them for the phone number of their parents when they tell you that they’re a foster kid. When they tell you they’re a foster kid, you think about what you know about foster kids, how often they’re not the most emotionally calm folks out there, for excellent reasons. You de-escalate. You de-escalate. You de-escalate. You’re in someone’s home without a warrant; the resident of the house is telling you to leave. Sure, you don’t know for sure it’s the lawful resident–but if it is, you don’t have a warrant and there’s zero crime in progress, and you’re supposed to leave. Normally this might be something you handle with a quick arrest, but you’re not sure. Do you call for backup? Do you call the freakin’ parents? Do you call the kid’s high school? Do you ask if the kid knows any neighbors who can vouch for his identity? Some idiot upthread asked me what I do when parents start shouting at me and taking their kids away, and the idiot, despite several chances, never asked me why I thought he was so wrong. Here it is: **that doesn’t happen**. Because I de-escalate. I sympathize with the plight of the parent who’s facing an obnoxious bureaucratic snafu. I apologize for the ugly situation they’re in. I solicit their help in resolving the situation. I de-escalate, and I get the parent on my side, and we figure it out together. Look: if the kid picked up something and came at the cops, the pepper spray is fine. If the kid explicitly and plausibly issued threats of violence, pepper spray may be warranted. But if the kid was pissed off at a couple of cops coming into his home and calling him a burglar because he was a black guy in a white family’s house, the pepper spray was not warranted. What was warranted was de-escalation. Nothing in the cops’ story shows de-escalation; on the contrary it shows remarkable tone-deafness at the best of circumstances (pointing out to a foster kid that his family hasn’t posted pictures of him and anyway he doesn’t look like them so they’re not really his family), and a casual willingness to escalate (breaking out the handcuffs “to ensure safety”–great job there at keeping things calm, guys). Folks defending this behavior are disgusting. ---
**Author:** ![Left\_Hand\_of\_Dorkness](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/left_hand_of_dorkness/32/7156_2.png) [@Left\_Hand\_of\_Dorkness](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Left_Hand_of_Dorkness)\ **Post date:** [October 9, 2014, 7:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nc-cops-pepper-spray-black-foster-son-of-white-family/700795/216 "2014-10-09T19:11:04Z")
> [@Typo\_Negative](#): > > Complete and utter horseshit. > > Seriously. Horseshit from start to finish. Cops would never have been called about an unfamiliar white kid? You think white kids don’t break into houses? (they do). You think cops have never been called? (they have?) > > How would I know? Personal experience. In my youth, I broke into houses. And I have personally ran from police when they were called to those houses. I assume by neighbors, but I didn’t stick around to ask. Some of my drug addled friends were not as quick as me and got caught in houses by police. Some of them were not treated with patience and tolerance. Sometimes they got their asses beat before being carted off. White boys, white neighbors, white cops. It happens. Back to the present: So you broke into houses. When you say “broke into houses,” do you mean “walked into the house through an open door”? If so, why did the neighbors call the cops? Is it because they knew the family and knew for a fact you weren’t a member of the family? If you were breaking into houses by, y’know, **breaking** into houses, you’re not saying anything that’s a counterexample. If the neighbors knew the house owners and knew you weren’t in their family, you’re not saying anything that’s a counterexample. If you’re saying there’s a rash of calls across the country in which folks see a teenager walk through the open door of a house in their neighborhood and call the cops, despite not knowing whether that teenager lives in that house or not, I’m afraid I’ll need a better cite than your own delinquent ways. ---
**Author:** ![Eonwe](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/eonwe/32/240_2.png) [@Eonwe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Eonwe)\ **Post date:** [October 9, 2014, 7:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nc-cops-pepper-spray-black-foster-son-of-white-family/700795/217 "2014-10-09T19:12:12Z")
> [@Typo\_Negative](#): > > OK, hypothetical time. > > You are at work and no one is in your house. Your neighbors, who you are not close with, see a white male, maybe 17 years old, enter your house. They have never seen this person, but do know that you are _usually_ not home at this time of day. > > There have been some break ins in the neighborhood recently. > > Your neighbors call the police. The police send a cruiser to investigate. They see this young man in the house. The appropriate action is…what? > > [sub]In this scenario, you have information that the police do not have. You know that this young man is UNKNOWN to you and has no business in the house. This fact, though, is irrelevant to the action the police should take[/sub] (First, it is really odd to me that any neighbor of mine would know when I’m home or not, and yet not recognize all the people who live in said home.) Right. They should go to the house. Knock on the door. See who responds. Say why they’re there. Ask for his name. Do you live here? What’s the address? Any kind of general sorts of questions. I think they can ask, “do you have any proof of residence?” I think that’s appropriate as a way to definitively answer the question that he _does_ belong there, but depending on who he says he is it’s not any kind of evidence that he doesn’t belong there. I think it would be fairly straightforward in most circumstances to tell by just asking friendly, neighborly questions, whether someone is lying or telling the truth. Not assuming this is going to be your response to me, but I am _not_ insisting that if the person says, “I live here,” then the cops should just say “thankyouverymuch” and leave. They need to use professional judgment; if the person in my home is basically responsive, doesn’t seem suspicious, knows what address he lives at, and isn’t carrying a sack of computer equipment (and any number of other signals), then take him at his word. Maybe watch the place for an hour after and see if he leaves with a bag of stuff if something “not quite right.” Where I’m really going with all this, I guess, is that I think the police can do their job, and can do it safely without being adversarial. Without demanding ID. By exercising good judgment and maintaining pleasant/professional relationships with all citizens. I’ve seen cruiser footage from an officer friend of mine where he’s responded to domestic disturbance calls (where he shows up to situations where people are already belligerent), and he manages to control the situation, sometimes subduing angry drunk men without shouting at people to get out of the car or get on the ground, without pulling pepper spray or any other weapon off his belt, and generally being calm, cool, and professional. I admit that, not having a recording/transcript, I don’t know exactly what the sequence of events were that happened in the case of this story. Maybe from the get go the kid created an adversarial and potentially explosive situation that the police couldn’t professional their way out of. But the fact that it ended with police attempting to cuff the resident of the home and ultimately subduing him with pepper spray leads me to think that something went wrong here, and it’s in the hands of the police. Cuffing an innocent person in his own house should never be an acceptable outcome for a routine, er, house check. The department should be evaluating its policies/procedures to figure out how to prevent this kind of thing in the future. (Also, it comes to me that a first step might be to identify the owner of the house, get in contact with that person (me) and ask if there is anyone who is supposed to be in the home. Maybe this isn’t as easy as I imagine, so scratch it if it’s a dumb idea.) ---
**Author:** ![Left\_Hand\_of\_Dorkness](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/left_hand_of_dorkness/32/7156_2.png) [@Left\_Hand\_of\_Dorkness](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Left_Hand_of_Dorkness)\ **Post date:** [October 9, 2014, 7:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nc-cops-pepper-spray-black-foster-son-of-white-family/700795/218 "2014-10-09T19:15:02Z")
> [@Typo\_Negative](#): > > Your neighbors call the police. The police send a cruiser to investigate. They see this young man in the house. The appropriate action is…what? > > [sub]In this scenario, you have information that the police do not have. You know that this young man is UNKNOWN to you and has no business in the house. This fact, though, is irrelevant to the action the police should take[/sub] 1. Talk to the guy, ask him what he’s doing in the house. 2. If his explanation is not satisfactory, ask him for some sort of evidence that he belongs there. 3. If he offers to call the house owners, cross-reference with the neighbor who reported the crime to be sure he’s giving you the correct names for the house-owners. 4. If he engages in actions representing imminent violence, or if he issues an illegal, plausible, direct threat of violence, escalate; otherwise, do everything you can to de-escalate the situation, including commiserating with him, apologizing for the inconvenience, etc., right up to the moment where you’re convinced this actually is a break-in, based on strong evidence, and is not just some poor schmuck getting confronted by the police in his own house. ---
**Author:** ![doorhinge](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/a5b964/32.png) [@doorhinge](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/doorhinge)\ **Post date:** [October 9, 2014, 7:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nc-cops-pepper-spray-black-foster-son-of-white-family/700795/219 "2014-10-09T19:15:49Z")
> [@Hooleehootoo](#): > > …I don’t want to just listen to an echo chamber, **but gettin’ ready to ban another cop defender whose handle starts with S**. They generate so much fury with their nonsense, it has a crowding-out effect. (post shortened, underline and bold added) Are you a moderator? What authority do you have to ban anyone? Are you pretending to be a moderator? I’m curious. ---
**Author:** ![Steophan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/steophan/32/9595_2.png) [@Steophan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Steophan)\ **Post date:** [October 9, 2014, 7:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nc-cops-pepper-spray-black-foster-son-of-white-family/700795/220 "2014-10-09T19:17:21Z")
> [@YogSosoth](#): > > You de-escalate. You de-escalate. You de-escalate. Pepper spraying and handcuffing someone is de-escalating. The person who was previously violent and potentially dangerous is now unable to be either. That’s the police doing their fucking job. Their fucking job also involves turning up when a crime is reported, and dealing with it. Being in a private property with no evidence that you have a right to be there provides plenty of reasonable suspicion of a crime, and could easily justify an arrest, not just a request to sit down while we contact the owners. Which is what actually happened here. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nc-cops-pepper-spray-black-foster-son-of-white-family/700795.md?page=10) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nc-cops-pepper-spray-black-foster-son-of-white-family/700795.md?page=12)