Charles Blow, a New York Times columnist, received the call all parents dread when their children leave for college; that they have just had a run-in with the law. Except in Blow’s case, his son was accosted outside of the Yale University library by a campus police officer, at gunpoint.
After leaving the library, Blow’s son saw the officer, but paid him no attention and continued to walk to his dorm room, but when he looked behind him, the officer had begun to follow him. When asked to stop and turn around, he complied, only to find a gun being pointed at him. He got on the ground when requested, answered all of the questions, and showed the officer his school ID, all without knowing why he had even been stopped in the first place.
It was not until a different officer arrived that he found out he was a suspect of a burglary due to fitting the description of the criminal.
Blow has no issue with his son being stopped, writing a response to the incident for the NY Timescolumn after a series of tweets, saying:
If indeed my son matched the description of a suspect, I would have had no problem with him being questioned appropriately.
Blow also added:
Why was a gun drawn first? Why was he not immediately told why he was being detained? Why not ask for ID first? My son was unarmed, possessed no plunder, obeyed all instructions, answered all questions, did not attempt to flee or resist in any way. When that moment came, I was exceedingly happy I had talked to him about how to conduct himself if a situation like this ever occurred. Yet I was brewing with sadness and anger that he had to use that advice.
Keep Up With PopWrapped On The Web!
Author
