Who is telling the truth?

I was watching the Chicago news last night. An elderly black man accidentially bumped the car in front of him. The man in the car that he tapped, got out, put a gun to the elderly man’s face and threatened him. The guy with the gun then goes back to his car, calls the police and they arrive.

The police talk to the elderly black man, and he tells them the other guy threatened him with a gun so the police handcuff the other guy. The other guy then says he is a police officer, and they then proceed to take off the handcuffs — and the off duty cop then says the elderly black man tried to run him over and succeeded in pressing charges against the elderly black man for assault. The black man then gets locked up.

The black man denies ever moving his car.

So, who is telling the truth?

On the news, they interviewed the elderly black man and his son. I am 100% confident that the black man is innocent. The way he spoke, the way he looked at the camera and the story he told was completely consistent. More than that, it is just a gut instinct. I believe him. I don’t need to hear the other half of the story to know.

The black man’s son (who is also a cop in another jurisdiction) said something interesting. He said, “A law officer who pulls a gun after a very minor traffic incident is unstable, and should be fired.”

This is so sad to see. My heart goes out to that black man and his family. You wonder if this was racially motivated. I would love to see this off-duty cop in an interview, and I’d love to hear from the cop who charged the elderly black man and locked him up. I’d love to hear their stories and basis for their actions.

Here is the story in print.