Video of Tempe traffic stop triggers internal investigation
Mar 11, 2015, 12:35 PM | Updated: May 28, 2015, 9:28 am
PHOENIX — Tempe Police have opened an internal investigation into one of its officers after video of a traffic stop surfaced online.
On Feb. 13, police attempted to stop Anderson Jean-Louis on Mill Avenue. According to a police report, several officers on patrol in the area said his music was excessively loud, a ticketable offense.
The report went on to say that Jean-Louis initially ignored requests from two officers to turn his music down and drove further down the street. The officers caught up with him and asked him to pull over. He complied.
The report said Jean-Louis exited his vehicle got out of his care before he was asked so the officers asked him to sit on the curb for their safety. He pulled out a phone and recorded the video above.
In the video, Jean-Louis said police are “a problem” for him and have no reason to touch him. As he pans to the female officer, she appears to take the phone out of his hands.
Both the video’s description and the police report said Jean-Louis pulled out a second phone to record the encounter before that, too, was taken from him and he was placed in handcuffs.
Both officers alleged Jean-Louis accused them of being racist. He accused them in the video’s description as well.
“I call this driving while black,” Jean-Louis said of the encounter. “I look at it like a police attack on a regular citizen.”
Jean-Louis was cited for failure to provide identification, delaying and obstructing officers and sound amplification greater than 50 feet. He was released at the scene.
Police have not given a timetable for the investigation.
