Marvin Taylor traffic stop not surprising to Rochester activists

A 30-second video of a routine traffic stop that ended with Rochester police smashing a black man’s car window was enough to shake Mike Johnson.

The man in the video posted a clip of the May 7 incident on his Facebook page earlier this month. The video was short and inconspicuous, but Johnson, a community activist with the group Save Rochester, had questions about what happened.

When Rochester police released a statement and body-worn camera footage of the confrontation this week, Johnson said their responses revealed thinly veiled discrimination.

In a news release, RPD said they caught motorist Marvin Taylor driving with an expired inspection and checked his plates to see if the car was stolen. It was not.

The agency accused Taylor of failing to immediately stop for police. In body-worn camera footage, an officer used this as an excuse to approach Taylor’s car with his gun drawn.

A review of addresses provided by police shows Taylor stopped less than a block — 10 houses or less — from where they tried to arrest him, at the corner of Remington and Dale streets.

And after Taylor was forcibly removed from the car, a police officer accused him of trying to conceal illegal drugs. None were found.

“It’s almost as if officers are excused for treating black citizens like criminals before they even begin an investigation,” Johnson said in an interview.

At a news conference for Taylor Thursday morning, Rochester resident Frederick Walker put it more plainly: “It’s called being stuck with DWB,” he said. “Driving while black.”

How did a routine traffic stop end with broken windows?

Police said they broke Taylor’s window and pulled him from the car because he ignored officers’ commands to roll down his tinted rear windows and get out of his vehicle.

Taylor said he refused to get out of the car because the officers wouldn’t explain to him why they stopped him as he rolled down the driver’s side window to talk to them. He only learned later that police said he did not use a turn signal at the intersection.

In an interview, the 22-year-old said he had been stopped by police at least a dozen times in recent years. Twice, he said, police ordered him out of the car and searched him only to return empty-handed.

This time, with a gun pointed in his direction, Taylor wanted to know why he was arrested.

He was almost home. He had only turned onto Dale Street because his house, located a block away, was on a one-way street.

“Our officers are tasked with doing an incredibly dangerous job every day,” RPD Chief David Smith said in a statement about the incident. “Situations like these, in which a motorist refuses reasonable direction to roll down the windows, create a dangerous situation for everyone involved. The motorist’s cooperation would have easily prevented this incident from escalating.

Johnson said he knew the video of Taylor refusing to roll down his rear windows would raise doubts in the community about whether police intervention in the case was justified. But he cites the officer’s weapon and immediate orders as reasons for Taylor’s arrest.

More: A police officer orders you to get out of your car during a traffic stop. Do you have to comply?

Would a different approach have changed the outcome of the Dale Street traffic stop?

He lives in a neighborhood in Rochester that has historically had limited power and faces a heavy police presence. There is a legacy of distrust and fear of police within the Black community due to previous negative interactions.

“Of course we want officers to be safe,” Johnson said. “But when you approach citizens in a combative way, treating them like criminals, it immediately puts us on the defensive. And when we are on defense, the officers use that as justification to escalate the confrontation. »

The New York Police Department must have probable cause to conduct a traffic stop, but they are not required to tell you immediately why they stopped you. Yet research shows that in traffic stops that ended with police force, officers were more likely to start with an order and conceal the reason for the stop.

And Johnson said Taylor was unfairly scrutinized for his actions during the traffic stop when, two weeks earlier, Monroe County Prosecutor Sandra Doorley had demonstrated more aggression and evasion of police during a traffic stop. a traffic stop for speeding.

Doorley ignored a Webster police officer’s lights and sirens for nearly half a mile, parked in his garage, rebuffed the officer’s commands, berated him with insults and walked in and out from her home with complete impunity. The officers never moved to detain her and pleaded with the prosecutor for nearly 15 minutes before issuing her a ticket.

The interaction between police and Taylor lasted approximately three minutes. After police removed him from the car, they forced him to the ground, where an officer placed his knee on Taylor’s head and neck to restrain him.

More: Two traffic stops, two results: Doorley and Taylor incidents compared

“It was like a soliloquy explaining to Sandra Doorley why she was wrong,” Johnson said. “Marvin was unable to get a basic explanation as to why he was arrested.

“As a black man, it’s so infuriating to see this happen,” he continued. “We’re saying this type of treatment, this discrepancy, has been around for so long, and to see it happening in front of everyone and people still don’t recognize it? It’s so frustrating.

“I am a black man in America. It happens every day’

Stories of police mistreatment are shared as cautionary tales within Rochester’s black community.

Treshaun Moore said that as a young black man, he was taught that police would have no problem stopping someone who looked like him on the street, just in the hopes of catching someone with guns or drugs to justify his actions.

It hasn’t happened to him yet, but watching the traffic stop video of Taylor — someone he’s known most of his life — was all the proof Moore needed to believe these stories are more than just tall tales popular.

He said police didn’t realize his friend’s potential character: Taylor had lived in that neighborhood since he was a child and began helping his mother pay the bills when he was a teenager. He breeds French Bulldogs and American Bullies and spends his free time visiting dog shows across the country.

In the body-worn camera footage, a police supervisor approached Taylor in the back of the vehicle with a hint of astonishment: “They tell me you don’t even have a criminal record.” »

“These are preconceived notions,” Moore said.

At the news conference, Taylor said he wasn’t sure rolling down his tinted windows would have changed the situation. “Do you think they still weren’t going to drag me out of the car?” He asked.

“I am a black man in America. It happens to someone every day,” he said.

— Kayla Canne reports on community justice and safety efforts for the Democrat and the Chronicle. Follow her on Twitter @kaylacanne and @bykaylacanne on Instagram. Contact us at [email protected].

—Reporter Madison Scott contributed reporting to this story.

This article originally appeared on the Rochester Democrat and Chronicle: ‘Driving while black:’ NYC traffic stops don’t surprise activists.