‘Because I Didn’t Say Hello?!’: Detroit Police ‘Stop and Harass’ Black Man In His Own Neighborhood Over Jaywalking, Then He Called Them Out on the Real Reason, Video Shows

In another case of Walking While Black, Detroit police stopped and cited a Black man who had stepped into a residential street near his home, detaining him for several minutes with one cop lecturing him on how “ignorance is not an excuse for a crime.”

But the cop turned out to be the ignorant one after he was forced to admit that jaywalking is not even a crime.

“Did I commit a crime,” asked the Black man, who goes by Jamone Jackson on Facebook where he posted the the nearly nine-minute video earlier this year.

“No, you committed a civil ordinance violation,” admitted the cop who had detained Jackson along with three other cops.

The irony of the detainment is that jaywalking citations are supposedly enforced to promote pedestrian safety but the cops remained standing in the middle of the street with the man as they lectured him on “accountability.”

“You have to have a level of understanding and accountably,” the main cop said, oblivious to the fact they were all standing in the middle of the street, violating the same ordinance they were accusing Jackson of violating.  

At one point in the video, one of the cops asked Jackson if he was on probation and he said he was.

“I’ve done nothing to violate my probation,” Jackson said.

“Walking in the street while a sidewalk is provided,” said the main cop. “You violated it.”

“While ignoring us,” added another cop.

Pretextual Stop

Jackson posted the video to his Facebook page on April 14 with the following description.

so last week i got a weak ass j walking ticket from Detroit Police Department yawl want to preach protect and serve but harass an black man because I didn’t say hello to yawl do something better with your time i took two steps before getting in the crumb i was out the road way before they said anything and the fact i do the same thing in front of the white an blue an black cars and they say nothing but this one time it’s a big thing ya miss me with the BS 

But the YouTube police accountability channel BP Cast posted the video to his channel and garnered over 100 comments.

“Hearing a cop lecture someone on accountability and ignorance of the law is outrageous,” stated one commenter with the username @patkap.

“Ignorance of the law is no excuse unless you have a badge,” added another commenter with the username @steveladner4346.

“That’s the thing about being in the system. Once you’re in the system, they will not let you out of it,” stated another commenter with the username @Hae6844.

The truth is, jaywalking citations are overwhelmingly enforced against Black citizens as pretextual stops in the hopes of finding something more serious to arrest them on.

Earlier this year, cops in Oklahoma detained a Black man for jaywalking, only to run him over with a patrol car.

And last year, a San Francisco cop drove against traffic down a one-way street to shove a Black woman against the wall and arrest her for jaywalking.

In 2023, the family of a Black man killed by deputies after he was detained for jaywalking received a $7.5 million settlement. 

And it was obvious these cops were looking for something more serious to arrest Jackson on.

“Nothing on you I got to worry about,” said the main cop while appearing to pat Jackson’s pockets looking for weapons.

“I’m good, bro,” responded the man, telling him he had nothing on him. “I’m good.”

“This is your job to stop and harass people,” Jackson said.

Nearly 5 minutes into the conversation, Jackson revealed what he believed to be the real reason for the harassment. “I was walking to the sidewalk, I was walking out the road. Is this not your reason? I simply walked out the store and you said “Hey” and I just walked right past y’all, I didn’t say “Hey”

“No, no. That’s the answer ‘no’,” claimed the officer.

It appears as if the cops were part of some special unit or task force because they were riding in an all-black patrol car that differs from the usual Detroit patrol cars.

The main cop was wearing a patch on his uniform with the initials “OC” with two swords crossed, indicating they were perhaps members of the department’s organized crime unit, but that has not been confirmed.

“Every time your white and blue or black and whites see me, they say nothing,” Jackson said, referring to other patrol cars from the Detroit Police Department and their drivers who ignore him as he crosses the residential streets in his neighborhood.

“They do you a disservice,” the main cop claimed, insinuating that they were doing Jackson a favor for detaining him for stepping into the street – while they all remained standing in the middle of the street.

“You got to be aware,” the main cop continued. “Ignorance does not absolve you of accountability when it comes to law, bro.”

But law enforcement officers across the country are notorious for being ignorant of the laws they are supposed to enforce, which is why the courts grant them qualified immunity which absolves them from accountability from lawsuits unless they violated a “clearly established” law or constitutional right.

In the case of jaywalking, it can be easily argued that it is not a clearly established ordinance considering cities and states across the country have different definitions, with some cities and states repealing these infractions since they are overwhelmingly used to harass Black people.

“In recent years, numerous federal judges across the country have expressed concern that federal doctrine on police stops leads to racial profiling,” according to the ACLU. “This suggests the beginning of a groundswell that we might harness toward bold change.”