Being black in the United States isn’t a crime…right?

Christopher Lollie, a musician and father who lives in St. Paul, Minnesota, was tazed by police in January.  His crime?

Disorderly conduct.

Trespassing.

Obstruction of the legal process.

Those might be legit offenses if they actually happened.  So what did actually happen? The New Civil Rights Movement reports:

When walking to pick up his kids from day care, Lollie sat briefly in a business lounge along St. Paul’s pedestrian skyway where First National Bank building security guards reported him to police for trespassing.

Trespassing at the First National Bank.  Ok, if that’s what happened, I can see why the police got involved.  Thing is…he wasn’t trespassing:

The city of St. Paul owns the skyway network, connecting 47 city blocks of buildings, businesses and merchants. Its spaces operate like an enclosed mall with interconnected plazas, public spaces and lobbies. Police say that First National Bank building security guards told them the lounge Lollie trespassed upon was for employees only. However, The Star Tribune’s Chao Xiong described the lounge as it appeared yesterday:

On Thursday afternoon, there was no signage in the area indicating that it was reserved for employees. Three security guards worked the area, walking about and sitting at a security desk in direct sight of the lounge running the length of a long, busy hall that connects to the U.S. Bank Center.

No signage to indicate the area Lollie was sitting in was for employees only.  So if it was a private area, there was no way for Lollie to know this.  Initially, Lollie interacted with a female police officer who didn’t seem to be giving him any trouble:

Lollie: Like I told [the security guard], I’m going to New Horizons to pick up my kids at 10 o’clock.

Female Officer: Okay.

Lollie: I was sitting there for ten minutes. The [unclear], not before he walked up to me or anything…

FO: Thank you for — thank you for [unclear].

Lollie: He walked up to me a minute after, and got irate with me. So first off, that’s a public area. And if there’s no sign that doesn’t say that’s a private area and you can’t sit here, no one can tell me I can’t sit there. If that’s the case, [then] I can’t sit here!

FO: The problem was–

Lollie: The problem is I’m black. That’s the problem, no it really is. Cause I didn’t do anything wrong…

Unfortunately, “help” was on its way for the clearly beleaguered female officer, in the form of a MAN (I guess she couldn’t handle this incredibly unruly citizen on her own and needed to be rescued from certain doom by a savior, referred to in the following quote as HMO-hulking male officer):

Lollie: Please don’t touch me. Please don’t touch me.

Hulking Male Officer: Well, you’re gonna go to jail then.

Lollie: No, wait. Wait.

HMO: You’re going to go to jail.

Lollie: Hold on. I’m not doing anything wrong, sir …

HMO: I’m not here to argue …

Lollie: C’mon Brother!

HMO: I’m not your brother.

Lollie: I hadn’t done anything wrong.

HMO: Put your hands behind your back, otherwise it’s going to get ugly.

Since when do the police have the right to manhandle citizens who are doing nothing wrong?  Since when do they have the right to take a person to jail when they’ve committed no crime?  Welcome to the United States of Authoritarian Police Forces, where police are always right and no citizen (read: no black person) has any rights.  I’d be willing to bet (if I was a betting man, which I’m not; not after losing $400 years ago in a casino; I’d rather spend $400 on comic books, or a vacation, or groceries, or cool stuff for my pets) if it were a white man in this situation, well, there wouldn’t BE a situation.

Yikes. A tumble of physical motion ensues. Lollie drops his phone on a window ledge. The video goes dark. “Can somebody help me? That’s my kids right there! My kids are right there,” Lollie pleads as his kids cry in the background.

“You’re gonna get tazed,” the male officer threatens. The electric-buzzing of a Taser arcs up, and its frequency changes — it found grounding. Lollie spastically yelps.

“This is racist,” Lollie declares as his voice begins to fade down the skyway. He’s being hauled to jail for sitting in an open lounge. “They stopped me because I’m black … I didn’t do anything … they assaulted me … they tazed me … and everything.”

Lollie was charged with trespassing, disorderly conduct and obstruction of the legal process. All charges were dropped.

The St. Paul Police Department believes their officers acted appropriately.

I’m motherfuckin’ sick and tired of police officers not only being treated as saints who can do no wrong (and are always in the right), but police departments backing up the offending officers!  The hulking male officer had no right to be forcible with Lollie.  HMO had no right to detain him. No right to tazer him. Nothing.  Yet the St. Paul PD thinks HMO acted correctly.  What the fuck?! I’d like to see their handbook of standards and protocols for this type of situation.  Or maybe not. It probably says “Hassle any black person in public. They’re supposed to be at home cooking, cleaning, or slaving away for their white masters.”

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Being black in the United States isn’t a crime…right?
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