Dec 1, 2014 Posted by AGA Editor

Police Stop Man for Walking with Hands in Pockets

The footage below shows a police officer in Pontiac, Mich., stopping a man for apparently suspicious behavior. What was the man doing? Walking with his hands in his pockets.

This is yet another reminder of what goes on between authority figures and the pubic.

There is no evidence that McKean did anything wrong. However, the officer explains: “You’re making people nervous.” When McKean wonders what he’s done, the officer replies: “Yeah, they said you had your hands in your pockets.”

In the U.S., this type of questioning, universally known as a Terry stop, requires an officer to have reasonable suspicion that a crime has been committed, usually obtained by observing the suspect engage in some sort of “unusual conduct.” However, the cop seems to suggest that the man’s cold hands met that standard.

McKean expresses outrage that walking with your hands in your pockets on a cold day is cause for people to call the police, the officer insists: “Well, we do have a lot of robberies around here.”

It’s unclear how the cop equates the man keeping warm in sub-30 degree temperatures with the local robberies, but he seems genuinely surprised by the man’s reaction, at one point asking the man, “Am I inconveniencing you?”

Is this the world you want to live in? Guess what, you already do. It’s time to wake up.

Are you awake Yet?