Fresno State basketball player, Dwight O'Neil, is black and the police like pulling him over because of it.
While you were out there partying and blogging and checking out Hero's on Sunday, Fresno State's Dwight O'Neil was in jail. Yes, he was driving with a suspended license and had a warrant, but that wasn't the interesting reason why he was pulled over. I'll let Dwight tell the story in his own words, taken from a story by Fresno Bee's Daniel Lyght:
"[The officer] was going somewhere else, followed us, found a stupid reason to pull me over and pulled me over," O'Neil said. "He said he couldn't see my license plate and thought the license plate bulb was out. The time before, they told me they couldn't see my lights on. The time before that they said they couldn't see my tags."
According to court records, O'Neil has been stopped by police at least eight times since June 2006.
"It's all about the side of town you live on," O'Neil said. "I hate to say it but when you live on the poorer side of town where a lot of gang-banging and drug dealing is going on, the officers have every right to find an excuse to check on a person. ... I can't change where I come from."
Police spokesman Jeff Cardinale said the officer who stopped O'Neil reported that O'Neil was missing a light on his license plate and that after the stop was made, realized O'Neil had a warrant.
"O'Neil certainly was not targeted," Cardinale said. "But when he does have a warrant for driving with a suspended or revoked license, it doesn't leave the officer much choice but to make the arrest. Actually, it doesn't leave him any choice."
I figured this kinda profiling goes on, but call me ignorant here, I didn't realize that everyone just kinda knows it and accepts it.
[photo: AP]
