Oakland firefighter says he was racially profiled by police officer
A black Oakland firefighter has filed a complaint with the Oakland Police Department after he and his young sons were detained by a white police officer outside of his job.
Veteran firefighter Keith Jones and his sons who are 9 and 12, were walking back to their SUV at Station 29. A fire crew responding to a call had forgot to close the garage door. Jones went to secure everything.
That was when he encountered the officer.
As Jones walked out, he said a police officer, responding to a possible burglary in progress, yelled “Don’t move, put your hands up.”
“And his hand is on his gun. He was crouched, he was low, and he was basically in a shooting stance,” Jones said.
Jones complied, but noticed his 9-year-old son Trevon was starting to cry. The officer saw the two kids first and had already told them to raise their hands.
Jones said he told the officer that he was an Oakland firefighter, that he worked at the station and that they were his kids. He asked the officer to allow his kids to lower their hands and tell them everything is OK. Jones said the officer told them to keep their hands up and not to move.
The firefighter said this lasted for a few minutes. “I’m pretty much thinking he’s going to pretty much shoot me,” Jones said.
Eventually, the officer allowed Jones to retrieved his firefighter ID from his pocket. Jones said the incident traumatized his kids. They now have a changed perception about the police.
Don Cameron, who is a police trainer, said the new officer was following protocol and that race has nothing to do with it. the incident prompted Oakland’s fire chief to contact the police chief about the incident, which was caught on the police officer’s wearable body camera. Internal Affairs is now reviewing the complaint.
Racial profiling must end!
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