How law enforcement situation with black man was handled today...
Last edited Thu Sep 3, 2020, 11:26 PM - Edit history (1)
My dh had a minor surgery at a local hospital on the outskirts of the city today. I dropped him off at the proper entrance at 10:30 am and drove home to await the call to come back and pick him up. That call came after 2:30 pm from his surgeon who told me everything went well. Since it's a 15 minute drive to the hospital, I left right away and parked outside the same entrance I had dropped him off (the signs do say patient drop off/pick up only). However, there's also the entrance to the ER and then another entrance even further down, all on the same side and people are walking to and from on the sidewalk in front of these entrances.
As I waited in my car with windows partially down, I observed a very skinny and shirtless black man walking around. It was hot today so I figured he took off his shirt while waiting for a ride. He was holding a clear plastic bag like the ones the hospital gives you to keep your personal belongings in. His other hand was keeping his pants pulled up. He continued walking around not really staying in one place too long. At one point he walked down the middle of the 2-lane driveway (one-way traffic) all the way to the 3rd entrance. He walked up to a vehicle parked there and obviously said something to the driver. Then he heads back my way; down the middle of the driveway again, not on the sidewalk. As he came closer, I started thinking what I would say if he came up to my car window. I have no problem being polite to anyone who hasn't given me a reason not to. I could see that he was looking past my vehicle, but came so close that he bumped into my side view mirror. Whoa! The vehicle behind me pulled out right then. To avoid interacting with him?
By this time, it was apparent that he had something mental going on, but he hadn't given me any reason to be fearful of him. Twenty minutes have passed since I arrived and my husband didn't answer his phone nor reply to my text message so I have no idea what's going on with him or even if I'm at the right entrance. There was a car in front of me with a child in the back seat that had been there before I got there so I'm sure they had been observing the man, too. Anyway, he was sitting on a bench recently vacated on the sidewalk opposite my car so I had a clear view of him. He gets up, hiking up his pants as he does so, and walks to the corner of the building. Let me point out here, this entrance to the hospital is all glass/windows from waist-height up. He stands on the sidewalk, his back to me, but facing the hospital in front of other windows and proceeds to urinate. Yup, I saw the stream. I thought to myself, "Ut oh, somebody is going to get in trouble now." I looked away for a moment and then looked back and he was still going. Oh, my! How could someone so skinny hold that much urine? At this point, the white car in front of me drives off. Had they seen enough?
The man returns to the bench and now has a cigarette hanging out of his mouth. A white couple walks by and he asks them for a light. The white man said, "Sorry, I don't smoke" and kept walking. Behind the couple I could see 2 white men: a tall white security guard type (I noticed him before kind of just milling about, but he never interacted with the black man) and a full-on, gun in holster, uniformed policeman, heading down the sidewalk. They walked right up to the black man sitting on the bench. By this time I was on the phone again trying to reach my dh so I couldn't make out what was being said. However, once I put my phone down this is how the conversation went (at no time did the policeman put a hand on the black man nor act in an aggressive manner):
Policeman [with hands on hips]: Look...if you work with me here, I will work with you. Okay?
Black man: I need a smoke.
Policeman: No, you can't do that here.
He also said something about the urinating incident because...
Black man [stands up and starts to walk away]: Sorry! I had to pee.
Policeman: Where are you going?
Black man [points to the parking lot across from ER entrance]: Over there to smoke.
Policeman: Okay
They both walk away. Just then my dh calls and tells me he's at the 3rd entrance waiting. As we were driving away from the hospital, I saw the black man sitting on a bench in a small garden area with the policeman standing off to the side as though he was going to wait with the black man until his ride or whoever showed up.
Why can't all police officers do their jobs like him?