A Missouri sheriff is firing back at a newspaper columnist who wanted to see what it was like when “minority motorists” are pulled over by police, claiming he was lucky he didn’t “get shot” during a traffic stop.
Boone County Sheriff Dwayne Carey released a video after a June 30 column from Columbia Daily Tribune writer Bill Clark, who was stopped by an officer earlier in the month over a turn signal error.
In the column, Clark claimed that he may have been pulled over due to his “liberal bumper stickers,” the New York Post reported.
“I’m lucky I didn’t get shot,” Clark, who is 84 years old and white, then opined. “Sirens wailed and when I stopped, two officers were out of the sheriff’s vehicle. When I reached over to turn off the radio and then take my wallet out of my pocket to produce the driver’s license and insurance card, I realized my hands were not at the top of my steering wheel. Danger lurked and official arrogance was to follow.”
“When you are in the shoes of the minority, you learn a lot more about their journey,” Clark wrote, adding that his life “seemed to be in danger.”
Sheriff Carey said that a review of the officer’s dashcam footage painted a very different picture. Carey decided to released the 11-minute video.
“In his column he indicates, ‘I’m lucky I didn’t get shot,’” Carey wrote. “There is never a weapon drawn, the deputies don’t take a position of cover, there are no loud verbal commands, no panic or anything else for that matter by the deputies. Would you agree this is sensationalism at its best? I say yes!”
