Sheriff Blasts Media Coverage of Viral Video of Black Man Stopped with Hands in Pockets

As the Oakland County officials do damage control over media coverage of a viral video of an encounter between a deputy and a Pontiac man that many have criticized as an abuse of power and an example of racial profiling, satirist Stephen Colbert has entered the brouhaha.

Colbert suggested on his Comedy Central program, “The Colbert Report,” Monday night that “things would be a lot calmer if black people just agreed never to put their hands up, or in their pockets.”

Colbert’s spin on the video, which already had already been shared tens of thousands of times by the time the program aired, is the latest example of media coverage that is causing huge headaches for Oakland County Sheriff Michael Bouchard and his staff.

The Thanksgiving encounter between the Pontiac man, Brandon McKean, and a sheriff’s deputy touched already frayed nerves as the racial divide deepened and protests continued in Ferguson, MO, after a grand jury declined to indict white police officer who fatally shot Michael Brown, 18, in August.

On Monday, Bouchard acknowledged there are “bad cops” and they should be dealt with swiftly. In the past two years, he said, his department has arrested, charged and fired employees who acted improperly.

“But we’re also responsible for standing up for people who do something right,” Bouchard said, according to The Detroit News. “And in this case, the deputy did everything right.

“Certainly, we don’t want police officers jumping to conclusions about people’s race, religion, sex or whatever,” he said “We want them to react based on the circumstances. But it seems more and more, police are being stereotyped as being mean or racists when, in fact, most of the women and men I know who put on the uniform do it because they want to help people.”

Related:

• Watch: Michigan Deputy Questions Black Man for Walking with Hands in Pockets
• Watch: Sheriff Releases Video of Black Man Questioned for Walking with Hands in Pocket

Bouchard said the quick spread of the video has resulted hang-up calls coming in from across the country, some with messages like, “I’ve got my hands in my pockets, (expletive) you,” the Detroit Free Press reports.

But the actual 911 audio tape of the call indicates the business owner who made it was in imminent fear that he would be harmed or robbed, something that had happened multiple times before. Part of the transcript from the call follows:

“I need just to inform you there’s a light skinned guy that passes by five, six times, back and forth, back and forth looking at us, looking inside and he keeps passing by and he sees a lot of people in here,” said the caller, whose identity and business were redacted from the audio file obtained by The Detroit News through the Freedom of Information Act. “He looks suspicious ... and he ... just passed by again.”

The dispatcher asked the caller if he was in immediate danger and he responded:

“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.”

Bouchard said that given the tenor of the 911 call, the deputy’s response was appropriate and even restrained.

“The business and the employees have been robbed seven times. (The 911 caller) sees this guy walk by five or six times, and he thinks he’s going to be robbed at any minute,” Bouchard said. “From my point of view, the deputy was very restrained, given that he was potentially approaching an armed robber.

“There are only two outcomes here: Either police respond to 911 calls, or they don’t,” the sheriff said

Both McKean, the African-American man who was questioned, and the deputy, who has not been identified, used their cell phones to record the incident. The deputy’s unedited video includes a longer exchange in which McKean agrees deputies should have been dispatched to the situation.

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Screenshot and video via “The Colbert Report”