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Oakland County Sheriff's Office in Michigan released a cell-phone video recorded by a deputy called to investigate an African-American man who was walking with his hands in his pockets, providing the mirror image of an encounter that went viral. Oakland County, MI Sheriff's Office
A screengrab of the YouTube video posted by Brandon Mckean.(Photo: YouTube, Brandon Mckean)
Police in Michigan released a cell-phone video recorded by a deputy called to investigate an African-American man who was walking with his hands in his pockets, providing the mirror image of an encounter that went viral over the holiday weekend.
In a reflection of how both police and civilians are increasingly sensitized to recording their encounters after the August shooting of Michael Brown, the videos show the white deputy pulling out his iPhone and pressing record after the black man, Brandon Mckean, started to record the encounter on his own phone.
Mckean, 25, on Thanksgiving Day posted a video of the deputy stopping him on the sidewalk in Pontiac, Mich. to question him.
When Mckean asks why he's being stopped, the deputy says "you were making people nervous."
Mckean asks why that was, and the deputy explains it's because Mckean was walking by with his hands in his pockets.
Mckean protests the stop, saying that walking back and forth with his hands in his pockets shouldn't be cause for alarm. He keeps calm, but sounds exasperated, explaining his tone is "because of the whole police situation across the country, this is outrageous."
The officer, who is also measured, responds that he is obligated to investigate such a report and would do the same for any caller.
At the close of the video, the men appear prepared to part peaceably, with the white police officer offering to high-five Mckean. In an interview with WXYZ-Detroit, Mckean says that's the first time he's every been high-fived by a police officer.
The video was viewed 4.4 million times on Facebook and 736,000 times on YouTube, which is a longer version of the encounter.
SHERIFF'S OFFICE VIDEO
On Monday, the Oakland County Sheriff's Office released the deputy's recording of the encounter and the 911 dispatch call from the business. The name of the deputy wasn't released.
The owner of a Pontiac business that's been robbed multiple times called 911, Sheriff Michael Bouchard said. The business reported that a man had walked back and forth in front of the business with his hands in his pockets, peering in the windows.
"OK, are you or anyone else in immediate danger?" the dispatcher asked the caller, according to a transcript of the call posted to the sheriff department's Facebook page.
"No, I mean, I'm assuming yes, he keeps going back and forth and looking at us. I mean I'm assuming he's going to do something, so that's why I'm trying to notify you guys," the caller said.
"Deputies are dispatched, the first deputy on scene locates the individual described by the caller, and asks him a set of restrained and brief questions," Oakland County Sheriff Bouchard said. "If you're the deputy, he's responding to a potential armed robber, he's duty-bound to check into it because he got a 911 call from a business owner saying he's afraid. He ends by saying it's not going to be a concern, he even calls off the backup responding units."
The interaction between the deputy and the African-American man, captured by each on video, covers the majority of the incident.
FREEP
Sheriff: Deputy in viral Pontiac pockets stop did right
Bouchard was critical of the quick spread of the video on social media.
"It doesn't help at all to broadcast a sliver of a situation, to have people from all over the country calling dispatch and saying, 'I've got my hands in my pockets, (expletive) you' and hanging up," he said.
He says his department responds promptly to wrongdoing: "I'm not proud to say that in the last couple of years we have arrested, charged and terminated a couple of employees."
Mckean didn't reply to a message from the Detroit Free Press seeking comment. He told ABC News that he thinks people always should film police encounters.
After the shooting death of black teen Michael Brown by white police officer Darren Wilson, which set off months of sometimes violent protests over the treatment of African-Americans by police, citizen groups are lobbying to require all police to wear body cameras when they engage with the public. The cameras are seen as a way of deterring excessive force and protecting police from false accusations. The handful of police departments that have instituted cameras have reported benefits.
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