We — senior Dakota Michael and sophomore Kate Patrick — were almost arrested on March 31. Not for trespassing. Not for drug dealing. Not even for speeding. It was because our car broke down.
The police who pulled us over represent a worrying trend. Cops may exhibit aggressive qualities and abuse citizens to protect themselves from potentially hostile situations, but this is no excuse to mistreat the innocent. A lack of common courtesy between police and the American people can turn potentially harmless encounters into dangerous, traumatic, or even fatal incidents.
In this particular case, an ordinary night drive became a nightmare when Dakota’s car overheated. He pulled into a grass lot on the side of Hillsdale Street — granted, not exactly a legitimate parking spot — and popped the hood, hoping the car would quickly cool down. The car had been acting up all night and, to make it back to campus without the engine exploding, we’d pulled over several times. Multiple people had stopped to ask if we needed help.
At this time, Michigan state troopers from the Jackson Post cruised down Hillsdale Street, pulled up behind our broken-down vehicle, turned on the blue lights, and beamed the floodlight over us.
Two state troopers emerged: The male trooper approached the driver-side door and ordered Dakota to place his hands on the vehicle; the female trooper approached my side and demanded I exit the vehicle and present my ID.
The female trooper asked me if I had anything illegal in the car, if I was hiding anything under my seat, and whether I had weapons. The answer to all three questions was a resounding “no.”
The male trooper asked Dakota if he had any drugs or weapons. Same answer.
The male trooper proceeded to search Dakota and the front of the car, even though he had no right to search without warrant.
The two state troopers mistook us for suspect individuals engaging in “suspicious” and potentially “criminal” activity instead of recognizing us as ordinary college students in need of assistance. After interrogating us about our business and running background checks on our IDs, the troopers realized they’d misjudged us, made an apology, and offered a tow truck to us.
While the state troopers had every right to investigate what appeared to be suspicious activity, they approached the situation assuming our guilt and then treated us with hostility, even though the American legal system dictates citizens are innocent until proven guilty. The police have become militarized: Cops must keep the peace, but now they hunt down criminals as if they’re American soldiers hunting ISIS in the Middle East. Police are so afraid of potentially hostile situations that they treat citizens unreasonably and often brutally, as seen in the Michael Brown and Eric Garner cases in Ferguson, Missouri, and New York.
The police assume we are criminals until proven otherwise and we assume the police are going to treat us badly. The result is a vicious cycle of police brutality followed by citizens reacting violently out of fear and anger.
I don’t have a problem with the state troopers for pulling us over, but I do have an issue with how the troopers handled the incident. Most Americans aren’t criminals. Police need to stop treating citizens as if they were. If cops and citizens made the effort to deal more courteously with one another, then there would be less violence and animosity. Until common ground is reached, the unrest will continue to fester, and the violence will continue to spiral out of control.
