“What I would demand is that they get some sensitivity training,” Potts said. “Some cultural sensitivity training.”
Felton, a Dayton native and a graduate of Ohio State University, recorded the Aug. 15 encounter with the officer and posted the video via his Facebook page. He was in Dayton to visit his mother when the incident occurred and said the officer stopped him for failing to activate his turn signal 100 feet before turning.
Felton, when asked at the news conference why he videotaped the encounter, said, he recorded the incident because “it was blatant. I felt disrespected that I was being trailed for so long. I started panicking.”
Felton said he felt like he needed to protect himself and noted he probably wouldn’t be alive had he not videotaped the incident. He said he was fortunate to record what he did because he believes he scared the officer, who wasn’t expecting to be recorded.
“It’s not just my story,” Felton said. “It goes on a lot and we say it doesn’t happen because no one brings it to light. But now that it’s in the light and we see it, and you see a lot of commenters say ‘it happens to us as well,’ where’s the proof?”
No mention was made about when an agreed upon conversation between Felton and the officer, to be facilitated by the Dayton Mediation Center, would take place.
“I didn’t know that the Ohio Revised Code had a law against a young African American male looking a white police officer in his eye,” Potts said. “We want to hear what they have to say.”
FIRST REPORT (Aug. 29)
A Michigan resident who was in town earlier this month to visit his mother said a Dayton police officer stopped him for making eye contact and not turning on his car signal 100 feet before turning.
John Felton, a Dayton native and an Ohio State University graduate, recorded the encounter with the officer and posted the video on his Facebook page.
The incident occurred on Aug. 15, according to the Dayton Police Department.
The department said Friday that during the weekend of Aug. 14-16, Dayton police, the Montgomery County Sheriff’s Office and the Ohio State Highway Patrol conducted Safe Communities Through Aggressive Traffic Enforcement.
SCATE is an initiative that is aimed at decreasing OVI-related fatalities and injuries in the city of Dayton.
Felton declined to be interviewed Friday.
At the beginning of the video, the officer identifies himself as a Dayton police officer, then tells Felton that he was pulled over because “you didn’t turn your signal on 100 feet prior to your turn.”
Felton protested, and the officer said, “You turned your turn signal on, but you didn’t turn it on 100 feet prior.”
When the officer walked away to run Felton’s plates and driver’s license, the motorist looked into the camera and said the officer had no reason to stop him.
“He needed a reason to pull me over. This is ridiculous,” Felton said. “He followed me for almost two miles. He saw Michigan plates, and he just needed a reason to stop me.”
When the officer returned to the car, Felton said: “No disrespect. I don’t have nothing against police officers, but with all the (recent encounters with police that have ended tragically across the country) that’s … scary. And to have a police officer just trailing you and then you just pulled me over because you said I didn’t use a turn signal? It’s because I have Michigan plates. Other than that, why were you trailing me?”
The officer responded: “Because you made direct eye contact with me and held on to it. I’m not going to argue about it anymore, sir. If you want to keep talking, I can give you a citation for the violation and you can take it to court. I’m not going to argue about it anymore. Have a safe day.”
Dayton police said Friday the traffic infraction was verified by the video, but “making direct eye contact with an officer is not a basis for a traffic stop.”
The department said Felton has agreed to a conversation with the officer, facilitated by the Dayton Mediation Center.
“This will allow Mr. Felton and the officer to discuss the specifics of the incident,” the department said.
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