Yesterday I was driving to pick up one of my friends, in the car were my two best friends since high school. I am a white woman. The friend in the front seat, Ellie, an Asian woman, and the friend in the back seat, Chris, a black man, all in our late teens/ early twenties. I stopped at a yellow light, as one is supposed to do, and all of a sudden a car comes crashing into us from behind, the man wasn’t paying attention. The man behind the wheel was probably about 55, white male. The noise was terrifying, and he hit us so hard that we went flying all the way across the intersection. We all hit our heads. Then I pulled my car over and surveyed the damage, my entire bumper was cracked, actually cracked. The man who had hit me, had totaled his car. We called the police. When the police arrived, they didn’t question the man who had hit me, even though he was completely at fault. They saw my grateful dead bumper sticker and began to search my car. I was not allowed to go near my car, we were confined to a corner while the police searched my car and got all buddy buddy with the man who had hit me. The cop asked me if I had anything in the car, shaken up from my first accident, my head was throbbing, and I was in tears, I answered in a whiney voice, saying I had nothing in my car. The cop then mocked me, imitating my voice and exaggeratedly saying “okay”. The cop then came over and asked Ellie and I to empty our pockets, we did. Then he shined the flashlight on Chris and began to pat him down, stuffing his hands into all of his pockets. The cop aggressively asked him if there was anything illegal on him and told him if there was he better tell him about it right now. After finding nothing on Chris, the cop took all of our licenses and spent about 20 minutes in his car, doing god knows what. The cop then refused to let my friends get back in the car with me while I drove down the street to see if it would still drive. When I confirmed that it was damaged, but drive able, he allowed my friends to walk in the cold, and then get in my car. The 55 year old white man was not paying attention on the road, and rear ended me. The cops chose to harass a 19 year old black man who was in the backseat during the accident.
