Police in Michigan have launched an internal investigation after officers were filmed by an onlooker while detaining a black man for “looking suspiciously” at a white woman.
Officers arrived to the scene outside of a local restaurant after receiving a call from a white woman who apparently felt threatened and thought the man was suspicious. The officers demanded to see 20-year-old Devin Meyer’s identification, and Myers requested a supervisor come to the scene.
Although he was not handcuffed or arrested, the supervisor continued to detain Myers after arriving.
The incident was recorded on a Facebook live stream by Kimiko Adolph, and shows several Royal Oak police vehicles and officers questioning Meyers outside of a local restaurant, the Inn Season, and refusing to let him leave.
Adolph said that she was on her way to a nearby store, but she chose to stop and intervene after seeing that Myers was surrounded by the cops for what appeared to be no reason.
Meyers can clearly be heard in the video explaining that he was on his way to meet his girlfriend inside the restaurant when police stopped him based on a report that he looked “suspicious.” Even still, police refused to let him go.
Eventually, the manager of the Inn Season, Erin Frey, came outside and to defend Meyers, as well.
According to statements made by Frey, the incident started when Meyers was trying to find a parking spot across the street. He waited for a woman to pull out of her parking spot, but when she didn’t leave, he eventually drove away and found another spot.
That’s when the woman decided to call the police on him.
Meyers was detained for almost an hour before he was told that he was free to go, even though his girlfriend was already inside of the restaurant waiting for him.
Both Frey and Adolph stayed with Meyers during the incident to show their support.
Adolph’s video has since been circulating on social media, gaining responses from critics who say that the response was aggressive, unnecessary, and over the top.
The Royal Oak Police Department Chief Corrigan O’Donohue released a statement apologizing to Meyers “for how he was treated.”
He also says that “the officer had no legal right” to demand identification and detain him, and should have informed him why they were there and “allowed him to go on his way.”
He calls what the officer did “a mistake” and says that he will be “provided with remedial training.”
Also, according to O’Donohue, the supervisor in question has also been disciplined, and every supervisor “has received additional training.”
