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Thursday, April 5, 2012

#TylerPerry, 5 Seconds from being Tasered While Black

It appears that Tyler Perry was a victim of racial profiling when he was stopped by city police last month.



Lets call it the way it really was, it looks like Tyler Perry could have been about 5 seconds from being shot by Atlanta Police or being Tasered While Black.

Yes, and this could have turned into Tyler Perry being "Tasered While Black." folks. Tammy Joyner over at The Atlanta Journal-Constitution is reporting on how the Atlanta police are investigating a racial profiling allegation by the filmmaker

Get this, here is what Tammy Joyner over at the Atlanta Journal had to say:

According to Perry, police said he made an illegal turn when he turned left from the right lane. He was driving a car with tinted windows after leaving his southwest Atlanta studios near Greenbriar Mall. Perry said he made the maneuver to determine whether he was being followed.

Perry, named the highest paid entertainer by Forbes magazine, wrote on his Facebook fan page Sunday that he was “badgered” by two white police officers. Perry, who is black, said he was left shaken after one officer banged on the passenger side window to get him to roll it down and the other officer tried to turn off the car engine.

The two officers who stopped Perry did not recognize him, Perry wrote on Facebook, and questioned why he felt he might be followed. It was not until a third officer, who is black, arrived, recognized Perry and told his colleagues of Perry’s celebrity status that tensions apparently subsided. Perry was not issued a ticket.
Perry did not file a formal complaint with APD but wrote of the incident on Facebook, which received about 20,000 comments as of Wednesday. Repeated attempts by The Atlanta Journal-Constitution to get details from Perry’s publicist were unsuccessful.

A spokesman for the Atlanta Police Department confirmed that Perry was stopped by two of its officers. The matter has been turned over to APD’s Office of Professional Standards to see whether any department policies or procedures were violated, APD spokesman Carlos Campos said.

Examples of racial profiling include the use of race to determine which drivers to stop for minor traffic violations, commonly referred to as “driving while black or brown,” according to the American Civil Liberties Union’s website. Read more at ajc.com

There is more: According to eonline.com Tyler Perry says he was a victim of some not-so-civil treatment by Atlanta police.

An internal investigation has been launched into the filmmaker and TV producer's claim that two officers acted hostilely toward him during a traffic stop because he is black, and only relented when a black officer showed up and apparently recognized Perry, E! News confirmed Wednesday.

So, what does Perry have to say about the incident?

The Good Deeds director described his version of events in detail on his Facebook page on Sunday, writing that he was driving to the airport from his Atlanta-area studio without his usual security detail and was pulled over for making a left turn from a right lane—a maneuver he attempted to ensure he wasn't being followed.
According to Perry, the officer who approached his window asked, "Why do you think someone would be following you?" After which, he wrote, another cop banged on the passenger-side window.

The second officer, Perry wrote, asked, "What's wrong with you?" and when the driver's-side officer explained that Perry thought he might be followed, the officer repeated, "Why do you think someone is following you? What's wrong with you?"

Before he could answer, Perry recounted, the driver's-side officer ordered him to put his foot on the brake, then reached for the car's on/off switch.

Read more at: eonline.com


"I finally realized that he thought that switch was the key," Perry wrote, "so I told him that it wasn't the key he was grabbing. I reached down into the cup holder to get the key, not realizing that the key had a black leather strap on it. As I grabbed it they both tensed up and I dropped it as I heard my mother's voice from when I was a little boy.

"My mother would always say to me, 'If you get stopped by the police, especially if they are white policemen, you say "yes sir" and "no sir," and if they want to take you in, you go with them. Don't resist, you hear me? Don't make any quick moves, don't run, you just go.'"

Perry claims that the officers continued to badger him about why he might be followed
.
"It was so hostile. I was so confused," he wrote. "It was happening so fast that I could easily see how this situation could get out of hand very quickly. I didn't feel safe at all. But one officer stopped his questioning and said, 'We may not let you go. You think you're being followed, what's wrong with you?' At this point, I told him that I wanted to get out of the car. I wanted the passersby to see what was happening."
MORE: The Richest Guy in Hollywood Is Not Who You Think

When he got out, Perry wrote, another cop pulled up—a black cop—and "took one look" at Perry, "an 'oh no' look on his face."

"He immediately took both officers to the back of my car and spoke to them in a hushed tone," he continued. "After that, one of the officers stayed near his car while one came back, very apologetic. I said all of that to say this: do you see how quickly this could have turned for the worse?"

"RACIAL PROFILING SHOULD BE A HATE CRIME INVESTIGATED BY THE FBI!!!" Perry concluded.

The Atlanta Police Department said in a statement to E! News that they have confirmed that Perry was involved in a traffic stop with two officers and that his claims, "as expressed by him publicly," have been referred to the department's Office of Professional Standards.

"OPS has opened an investigation to determine if Mr. Perry's claims can be substantiated, and whether any departmental policies or procedures were violated during the stop," police said.

Read more at eonline.com. and tasered while black.