Michigan Police Officer Detains Man for 'Making People Nervous' by Walking With Hands in Pockets in Near Freezing Cold
A video of a man being detained by a Michigan police officer on Thanksgiving Day because he was "making people nervous" by walking with his hands in his pocket in near freezing temperature has gone viral and stoked afresh passions over racial profiling.
Brandon McKean, the man who was detained noted in the video which he posted to his Facebook page on Thanksgiving Day, said he recorded the incident for his protection. It has since been viewed on Facebook more than 3 million times and shared more than 80,000 times.
The Pontiac Tribune reported that the incident occurred around 4:30 p.m. in Pontiac while McKean was walking on Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard and Michigan Avenue. The temperature had reached a high of 33 degrees Fahrenheit that day — just one degree shy of the freezing point of water.
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The video, which is just over a minute, begins with the officer telling McKean that he was making people nervous, and he asks the officer "why?"
And this is how the rest of it went:
"You were walking by," the officer responds.
"Walking by and doing what?" asks McKean.
"Well, you were making people nervous."
"By walking by?"
"Yeah, they said you had your hands in your pockets."
"Wow. Walking by with your hands in your pockets makes people nervous to call the police when it's snowing outside?"
"It is," responded the officer nonchalantly before asking McKean "so, are you OK?"
"I'm fine, how about you?" McKean replied.
"What are you up to today?" asked the officer.
"Walking. With my hands in my pocket, walking."
"Is it an inconvenience to talk to me right now?"
"Hell yeah, just because of the whole police situation going on across the country. This is outrageous that you would let somebody tell you, 'Oh there's somebody walking down the street with their hands in their pockets. There's 10,000 people in Pontiac right now with their hands in their pockets …" noted an irritated McKean.
"You're right, but we do have a lot of robberies, so I'm just checking on you," replied the officer.
The encounter ended with the officer offering the miffed McKean a high five who then shared the recorded incident with the world.
