NFL free agent Roddy White shared a disturbing interaction with a police officer where a gun was brandished over a speeding ticket.
Black men of all pay grades and professions share a stark reality. That reality is that any given day, a police officer may decide that their life doesn’t matter and could get away with killing them. Former NFL player Roddy White experienced this first hand on Wednesday in Atlanta.
White, who played 11 seasons for the Atlanta Falcons, says that he got caught speeding with an expired tag and was pulled over. He didn’t deny that he was in the wrong and was ready to accept his ticket. However, he wasn’t prepared to be treated like a criminal suspect.
In a series of tweets, White shared that the police officer who pulled him over approached his vehicle with his hand on his gun, saying it was “procedure.”
White does have reason to react like this. As we’ve seen in the past, police have killed unarmed Black men for selling loose cigarettes, having a broken tail light, selling CDs at the gas station and asking for help.
But, in knowing this, please be advised that speeding with expired tags is not the best thing to do these days. The goal is to not give police a reason to pull you over in the first place.
