Friday, 6 April 2012

Cops Launch Investigation Into Tyler Perry's Racial-Profiling Claims


Atlanta police department have reacted to Tyler Perry's complaint about an alleged racial profiling during a traffic stop. A few days after the filmmaker posted the story on his Facebook fan page, cops have launched an internal investigation to find out "whether any departmental policies or procedures were violated during the stop."

On Sunday, April 1, Perry shared to his fans that he was pulled over by two "hostile" police officers in Atlanta after he made an illegal left turn as he left his studio. When he explained that he made the illegal turn to make sure no one was tailing him, one officer allegedly asked, "Why do you think someone would be following you?"

Before he could answer the question, the second police officer started "banging" on his passenger side window, apparently taking issue with his tinted windows, Perry claimed. While the two cops badgered him about why he thought someone might be following him, the "Why Did I Get Married?" helmer recalled his mother's advice.

"My mother would always say to me, 'if you get stopped by the police, especially if they are white policemen, you say 'yes sir' and 'no sir', and if they want to take you in, you go with them. Don't resist, you hear me? Don't make any quick moves, don't run, you just go'," so he shared.

But then a third officer arrived, and Perry noticed he was a black guy. "He took one look at me and had that 'Oh No' look on his face," he continued writing. The third police took the other two officers to the back of his car and talked to them in "a hushed tone", before one of them came back and was "very apologetic" to him. The 42-year-old, however, did not mention if he was given a ticket.

An onlooker who claimed to have witnessed the incident said that Perry was "confused, upset and a bit uncooperative" when he was pulled over. The witness named Malik Kadeem told TMZ the actor "upset one of the officers when he didn't immediately roll down his passenger window when asked to do so." Still, Kadeem admitted the officers were "giving [Tyler] a hard time" during the stop.

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