# Picking up trash while black, 5 officers respond. **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [March 7, 2019, 4:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/picking-up-trash-while-black-5-officers-respond/830703 "2019-03-07T16:48:40Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![aceplace57](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/aceplace57/32/3500_2.png) [@aceplace57](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/aceplace57)\ **Post date:** [March 8, 2019, 5:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/picking-up-trash-while-black-5-officers-respond/830703/21 "2019-03-08T05:53:31Z")
I’m upset and deeply disturbed by the police’s over reaction and poor judgement. It’s shocking that they brought in 8 officers because a guy was calmly holding a trash grabber stick. I prefer to discuss the incident calmly and thoughtfully. A little ironic humor helps too. I burned out ranting and raving awhile ago. All that does is makes me feel ill and reach for the Mylanta afterward. There’s too many bad things happening in the world today to expend that much energy & venom on rants. My own emotional & physical health is more important. ---
**Author:** ![Roderick\_Femm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/roderick_femm/32/14875_2.png) [@Roderick\_Femm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Roderick_Femm)\ **Post date:** [March 8, 2019, 5:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/picking-up-trash-while-black-5-officers-respond/830703/22 "2019-03-08T17:03:24Z")
> [@aceplace57](#): > > I’m upset and deeply disturbed by the police’s over reaction and poor judgement. It’s shocking that they brought in 8 officers because a guy was calmly holding a trash grabber stick. > > I prefer to discuss the incident calmly and thoughtfully. A little ironic humor helps too. > > I burned out ranting and raving awhile ago. All that does is makes me feel ill and reach for the Mylanta afterward. There’s too many bad things happening in the world today to expend that much energy & venom on rants. My own emotional & physical health is more important. I’m so relieved. ---
**Author:** ![Treppenwitz](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/treppenwitz/32/3445_2.png) [@Treppenwitz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Treppenwitz)\ **Post date:** [March 8, 2019, 5:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/picking-up-trash-while-black-5-officers-respond/830703/23 "2019-03-08T17:20:44Z")
If anyone is interested, this little local story is also news in the UK now: > **[Police confront black man picking up rubbish](https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/av/world-us-canada-47491722)** > > Gun-wielding police in the US state of Colorado have been filmed confronting a man picking up trash on his lawn. And I would guess, if it’s news in the UK then it’s probably news across the rest of Europe too, and… Whether this actually does any good or not is a different question. j ---
**Author:** ![Chefguy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chefguy/32/138_2.png) [@Chefguy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chefguy)\ **Post date:** [March 8, 2019, 6:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/picking-up-trash-while-black-5-officers-respond/830703/24 "2019-03-08T18:36:33Z")
> [@wguy123](#): > > Who is the paid professional trained in conflict resolution in this situation? > > I’m tired of the excuse “if only he’d complied, he wouldn’t be dead”. Stop blaming the innocent victim. > > There is a local story of a simple man that ended up dead because he wouldn’t put down a 2-liter bottle of soda in a convenience store. Look up Otto Zehm if you are curious. You have no idea about the guy picking up trash. I’m not blaming anyone. It’s the way things are. The guy is lucky he wasn’t gunned down. You being “tired of the excuse” doesn’t change reality. ---
**Author:** ![aceplace57](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/aceplace57/32/3500_2.png) [@aceplace57](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/aceplace57)\ **Post date:** [March 8, 2019, 6:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/picking-up-trash-while-black-5-officers-respond/830703/25 "2019-03-08T18:42:53Z")
> [@Treppenwitz](#): > > If anyone is interested, this little local story is also news in the UK now: > > [Colorado police confront man picking up rubbish on his lawn - BBC News](https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/av/world-us-canada-47491722/colorado-police-confront-man-picking-up-rubbish-on-his-lawn) > > And I would guess, if it’s news in the UK then it’s probably news across the rest of Europe too, and… > > Whether this actually does any good or not is a different question. > > j There is an internal police investigation. The widespread news coverage should add pressure and get the people responsible reprimanded or terminated. > **[PD investigating viral video of cops confronting black man](https://www.abcactionnews.com/news/national/police-department-investigating-after-viral-video-shows-cops-confront-black-man-picking-up-trash?_amp=true)** > > Police in Boulder, Colorado have launched an internal investigation in response to a viral video that shows officers drawing their weapons on a black man who claimed to be picking up trash on his own property. > [@](#): > > the department began looking into the incident on Friday and launched an internal affairs investigation on Monday. After between a “60 and 90 day” investigation, police will submit a report to the Professional Standards Review Panel, which will provide a recommendation to the chief of police about how to proceed. ---
**Author:** ![Inigo\_Montoya](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/inigo_montoya/32/124_2.png) [@Inigo\_Montoya](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Inigo_Montoya)\ **Post date:** [March 8, 2019, 7:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/picking-up-trash-while-black-5-officers-respond/830703/26 "2019-03-08T19:35:41Z")
> [@Roderick\_Femm](#): > > Yeah, THAT’s the problem here. Police community relations might be damaged. I’m really worried about police community relations. I’m worried that the police maybe think so little of some parts of their community that they’re willing to shoot them for no reason. > > Profiling is sad. Right. Be sure to shed a tear for the victims of profiling, maybe two tears when they’re actually shot to death. > > This is the wrong forum for me to say how little I think of some of these responses. It’s the wrong forum for me to say what I think about the joke responses. It’s the wrong forum for me to wonder what’s mundane or pointless about this, and why there’s no outrage here. So as you were, carry on being you. I can’t read you here. I suspect some sarcasm but I can’t decide where it ends and a sincere statement starts. As far as community relations goes, it does matter. Nobody I know would call the cops if there was trouble, because they never NEVER _improve_ a situation. ---
**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:** [March 8, 2019, 7:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/picking-up-trash-while-black-5-officers-respond/830703/27 "2019-03-08T19:42:04Z")
> [@Beckdawrek](#): > > I tell my kids all the time to just comply with police requests. If you’re innocent it will be determined so. You should stop lying to them. Innocent people get arrested and convicted all the time. They also get shot. ---
**Author:** ![boffking](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/858c86/32.png) [@boffking](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/boffking)\ **Post date:** [March 8, 2019, 7:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/picking-up-trash-while-black-5-officers-respond/830703/28 "2019-03-08T19:53:59Z")
This is why police need to be disarmed. ---
**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:** [March 8, 2019, 8:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/picking-up-trash-while-black-5-officers-respond/830703/29 "2019-03-08T20:00:36Z")
> [@aceplace57](#): > > I’d love to know the back story and why the cops showed up in such force. > > Who called them? That is the question. > [@](#): > > In the video, filmed by Vanardo Merchant, a police officer can be seen confronting a black man, identified in the video as Zayd, who appears to be holding a bucket and a tool for picking up garbage. I saw the video and he looks EXACTLY like a man picking up garbage. Why is it that the responding office did not simply walk up to the man and engage in conversation? Seriously, I am asking. Why can’t he say ‘Excuse me Sir. Don’t mean to bother you, but we received this call. Can I ask you a couple of questions?’ I cannot hear any audio, but I doubt he said anything like that. I imagine it was more like ‘DROP THE WEAPON!!’ When cops show up jumpy, it makes other people jumpy. ---
**Author:** ![excavating\_for\_a\_mind](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/e8c25b/32.png) [@excavating\_for\_a\_mind](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/excavating_for_a_mind)\ **Post date:** [March 8, 2019, 10:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/picking-up-trash-while-black-5-officers-respond/830703/30 "2019-03-08T22:59:59Z")
> [@Typo\_Negative](#): > > You should stop lying to them. Innocent people get arrested and convicted all the time. They also get shot. While you are certainly correct in that innocent people get arrested, convicted, and, sometimes, shot, by complying with a police officers demands you increase the odds of a less than disastrous outcome by doing your best to comply. My big complaint is that it appears that this officer was just following his training. If the officers are trained to draw their weapon first, start shouting demands second, and treat any reaction the object of their ranting\* makes as a threatening reaction, we are going to have this result. \*ranting. If an ordinary person was to make such demands by shouting threats, such person would be considered unstable. So, to many people who these officers interact with in this manner, these people are finding themselves in a situation where a crazy person with a gun is screaming unintelligible commands at them. IMO, this is something an officer should be specifically trained NOT to do, not trained that it is what they should do. ---
**Author:** ![Magiver](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/4491bb/32.png) [@Magiver](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Magiver)\ **Post date:** [March 9, 2019, 1:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/picking-up-trash-while-black-5-officers-respond/830703/31 "2019-03-09T01:30:08Z")
> [@aceplace57](#): > > The video is just incredible. Words almost fail me. > > He’s holding a trash pickup stick and bucket in his own yard? 3 or maybe 4 cops aiming guns? Drop the weapon! WTH? where in the video are they aiming guns at him? They were responding to a call. They can’t just ignore it. It has to be investigated. All this guy had to do was show them some ID and they’d be on their way. But no, he had to throw a tantrum. A rational person would see how it looks to police. They’re responding to a call and are confronted by 2 highly agitated people. ---
**Author:** ![Voyager](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/voyager/32/133_2.png) [@Voyager](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Voyager)\ **Post date:** [March 9, 2019, 2:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/picking-up-trash-while-black-5-officers-respond/830703/32 "2019-03-09T02:05:56Z")
> [@Typo\_Negative](#): > > I saw the video and he looks EXACTLY like a man picking up garbage. And he had a tool for dealing with garbage. No wonder the cop felt threatened. ---
**Author:** ![Dewey\_Finn](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dewey_finn/32/4222_2.png) [@Dewey\_Finn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dewey_Finn)\ **Post date:** [March 9, 2019, 2:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/picking-up-trash-while-black-5-officers-respond/830703/33 "2019-03-09T02:11:50Z")
> [@Magiver](#): > > where in the video are they aiming guns at him? Why do they need to aim guns _anywhere_? Isn’t possible for a police officer in America to address a situation without needing his or her hand on a gun? ---
**Author:** ![Dr.Drake](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/ad7895/32.png) [@Dr.Drake](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dr.Drake)\ **Post date:** [March 9, 2019, 3:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/picking-up-trash-while-black-5-officers-respond/830703/34 "2019-03-09T03:12:09Z")
> [@Magiver](#): > > where in the video are they aiming guns at him? > > They were responding to a call. They can’t just ignore it. It has to be investigated. All this guy had to do was show them some ID and they’d be on their way. But no, he had to throw a tantrum. > > A rational person would see how it looks to police. They’re responding to a call and are confronted by 2 highly agitated people. If I were doing yardwork and the police showed up to question me, I would be highly agitated. Of course, I’m white, so no one has ever called the cops on me, even when I’m picking up litter and muttering to myself; if they did, the police would probably approach me more respectfully, and be readier to accept my word. And, in point of fact, he DOESN’T have to show them ID. Where in US or Colorado or Boulder law does it require that you show papers in order to be allowed to remain in your home? Nowhere, that’s where. I understand that the police have to respond to calls, and always need to be prepared for the worst-case scenario, but I don’t really see any rational person defending the police here. ---
**Author:** ![Roderick\_Femm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/roderick_femm/32/14875_2.png) [@Roderick\_Femm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Roderick_Femm)\ **Post date:** [March 9, 2019, 3:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/picking-up-trash-while-black-5-officers-respond/830703/35 "2019-03-09T03:38:26Z")
> [@Inigo\_Montoya](#): > > I can’t read you here. I suspect some sarcasm but I can’t decide where it ends and a sincere statement starts. As far as community relations goes, it does matter. Nobody I know would call the cops if there was trouble, because they never NEVER _improve_ a situation. It’s not that police community relations are not important, but to make that the takeaway from this incident is to hugely trivialize what was going on. There are some excellent comments in this thread, but the ones I quoted are not among them. ---
**Author:** ![Chessic\_Sense](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/7c8e57/32.png) [@Chessic\_Sense](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chessic_Sense)\ **Post date:** [March 9, 2019, 4:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/picking-up-trash-while-black-5-officers-respond/830703/36 "2019-03-09T04:07:18Z")
Can we establish some facts first, please? “3 or maybe 4 cops aiming guns?” No, one cop has a gun out of its holster and zero cops are aiming guns. “All this guy had to do was show them some ID” He did show them ID. “It can’t be that hard to see trash being picked up vs breaking into a house.” They were called for suspected trespassing, not B&E. “Stupid situation that got out of control, certainly” No, not certainly. At no point is the situation out of control. The cops are in control of themselves. The man is in control of himself. The fact that they’re yelling at each other doesn’t mean anything is out of control. “I cannot hear any audio” Let me help you out. The officer says “drop your weapon” and the guy says “I don’t have a weapon! This is a bucket!” which is definitely the funniest line from the whole thing. He says “I live here” and “I’m picking up trash.” When the officers outflank the man, the original one says “Focus on me” and “Calm down” and “We just want to talk to you.” The man says “I’m a resident of this fucking property. I’m picking up trash from my fucking dorm. I go to school here.” The officer says “Sit down” and he replies “I feel threatened. I will not sit down. I refuse to sit down.” The man tells the officers that the first cop had his gun, and the cop says something disputing that, so the man says “Really? We have it all on camera. So how do you feel about that?” Eventually the cops say that the man was obviously profiled and they leave. If I’m wrong, tell me where I’m wrong. Honestly, this is how these sorts of interactions should turn out. Nobody gets hurt, everyone acts rationally, yells at the other person to calm down, eventually they all do calm down, and everyone goes home. You want the cops to not show up in the first place? Then blame the person who called them. ---
**Author:** ![Chessic\_Sense](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/7c8e57/32.png) [@Chessic\_Sense](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chessic_Sense)\ **Post date:** [March 9, 2019, 4:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/picking-up-trash-while-black-5-officers-respond/830703/37 "2019-03-09T04:09:28Z")
> [@Dr.Drake](#): > > I don’t really see any rational person defending the police here. So how would you respond to this poster who is defending the police here?: > [@Dr.Drake](#): > > I understand that the police have to respond to calls, and always need to be prepared for the worst-case scenario, ---
**Author:** ![Dr.Drake](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/ad7895/32.png) [@Dr.Drake](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dr.Drake)\ **Post date:** [March 9, 2019, 4:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/picking-up-trash-while-black-5-officers-respond/830703/38 "2019-03-09T04:34:54Z")
> [@Chessic\_Sense](#): > > So how would you respond to this poster who is defending the police here?: I’m not sure how you read that as defending the police in this case. I understand their job description, but not how they executed it in this example. As to what I would suggest they do differently: 1. Fewer officers 2. Less yelling. Really, zero yelling on the part of law enforcement. In the cut of the video I saw the officer was fairly restrained in terms of raising his voice, but in my opinion (I’m not a trained LEO) his requests were unreasonable, and his tone was unnecessary. I also think that true requests rather than commands (“would you do me a favour and set down your tools”) would have gone down better. Given the number of black men who have been shot dead on very flimsy pretexts, I think the young man in the film was very brave (and very foolish) for standing up for himself here. I’m glad it ended as well as it did. ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [March 9, 2019, 3:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/picking-up-trash-while-black-5-officers-respond/830703/39 "2019-03-09T15:10:45Z")
How is “suspected trespassing” grounds for _any_ police response at all, if the call doesn’t come from the landowner? That’d literally just calling the police on someone for the offense of that person existing. ---
**Author:** ![Novelty\_Bobble](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/a3d4f5/32.png) [@Novelty\_Bobble](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Novelty_Bobble)\ **Post date:** [March 9, 2019, 3:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/picking-up-trash-while-black-5-officers-respond/830703/40 "2019-03-09T15:31:16Z")
The behaviour of the police here boggles the mind. One single office should approach him with a friendly smile and say “excuse me sir, we’ve had a report of a trespass in this area. Have you seen anything suspicious?”. Or something similar, and let a conversation develop from that. I suspect that identification of a bucket and trash-grabber is easier at close range. There was absolutely no need for that to escalate at all. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/picking-up-trash-while-black-5-officers-respond/830703.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/picking-up-trash-while-black-5-officers-respond/830703.md?page=3)