Black Texas Student Who Was Heading Home From Work At Walmart Gets Arrested For Walking In The Middle Of Street To Avoid Icy Sidewalks
Last week, a Black high schooler was arrested in Texas for walking home in the middle of a street during a snowstorm as he attempted to avoid ice-covered sidewalks.
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The incident happened at 10:45pm on February 16 in Plano. According to the Daily Mail, police said officers received a call about a Black man seen stumbling along in the middle of the snowy street wearing just a short-sleeved shirt, so they were sent to perform a “wellness check.” In the bodycam footage that Plano Police Department released on Facebook, officers are seen approaching the boy and repeatedly asking him where he is going and if he’s okay, to which he replies that his is fine and on his way home. They followed him for two minutes and 17 seconds, before arresting him in an alleyway.
While speaking with FOX4, the innocent teen —- 18-year-old Rodney Reese, said that he had been walking home from his job at Walmart and didn’t stop for the officers because he wasn’t need of any help. He told the network that he had been walking in the middle of the road because the side walk was covered in ice and snow. Despite telling the officers “he’s good” and “I do this like every night, literally,” they still arrested him, placed in the back of a police cruiser and charged with being a pedestrian in the road way, a misdemeanor offense. They claimed he resisted arrest. However, Plano Police Chief Ed Drain told KDFW-TV that the charge was eventually dropped against Reese because the arrest wasn’t consistent with why officers were called to investigate.
The teen told the news outlet that following the police killing of George Floyd in Minnesota last year, police interactions make him nervous. Reese said he believes the call that brought officers to the scene and his subsequent arrest were simply based on the color of his skin.
“Just ‘cause I’m black, that’s it. It’s cause I’m black, I fit a description. It hurts, man,’ he said. “I don’t even think the call would’ve happened [if I wasn’t black]. Honestly, I really don’t.”
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