Don’t move!
This is Bradley Nesbitt.
Great guy. Good friend. Talented filmmaker.
He has been working for us for the past four years – as a VJ in our Fios1 station in DC, reporting and producing; and as a VJ trainer at a variety of video bootcamps both with Travel Channel and with others.
Now, he’s leaving both our employ and Washington to spend the next four years in the US Army.
Bradley is going in as an officer, specializing in video productions and journalism
That’s good.
What’s not good is that last month Bradley was arrested in Washington DC.
His crime?
Driving while black.
No…..seriously.
Bradly was driving his grandmother, who is white, back to her house after a visit with his family and kids.
He was pulled over by DC police who wanted to know what he was doing.
In pulling over, he stopped the car four inches outside a legal parking area.
When he had stopped the car, the officer didn’t talk to Bradley at all. Instead, he talked only to his grandmother.
“Are you OK, ma’am”? they asked. “Are you sure?”
Seeing there was no kidnapping or rape in progress, the officer then turned to Bradley.
The officer wrote him a ticket for the parking violation.
He asked the officer if he was kidding. He had told him to put the car there.
The officer told him to get out of the car. Then the officer handcuffed him and arrested him.
The charge?
Resisting arrest.
The took him down to the DC police precinct in handcuffs.
They held him for four hours.
They impounded the car and towed it away.
They sent his grandmother home in a taxi.
They fingerprinted and photographed him. Mug shots.
It went to court.
The judge threw it out. The officer failed to appear.
When they realized they had made a mistake, a really dumb mistake, they let him go.
No apology.
No nothing.
I said, ‘why don’t you sue the City of Washington DC and the Police Department’.
They have to keep you overnight to do that, he told me. They only held him for four hours. He knows all about being arrested for ‘driving while black’. Apparently it happens all the time.
Next month, Bradley will ship off to Iraq to defend his country.
One might be tempted to ask…why.
9 Comments
Leigh Owens February 12, 2011
Great article. As a victim of driving while black myself I can appreciate how smoothly this man handled the whole situation. Very unfortunate how much the actions of a handful of douche bags can effect so much.
Alden Morales May 28, 2010
Yeah, It’s crazy but motivation comes in many shapes and colors. It just makes you push harder. There are a lot of people out there that wish for you to fail. But there are even more that are present to help you get up and encourage you to move on. I think about them.
+1
Joe Faragalli May 27, 2010
Just finished the recent Travel Channel Academy and had a great experience.
Just read this post and it is very sad and disturbing. No matter where you go in this world you will find this kind of ignorance.
Bradley, thank you for your service and prayers will be with you.
forex robot May 27, 2010
nice post. thanks.
BRADLEY May 27, 2010
Yeah, It’s crazy but motivation comes in many shapes and colors. It just makes you push harder. There are a lot of people out there that wish for you to fail. But there are even more that are present to help you get up and encourage you to move on. I think about them.
Thanks for everything Babe
BLVD-B
Eric B May 27, 2010
That is horrible. Sick people out there… including cops. They can be ingnorant assholes not only to blacks, but also to every other person as well. But if this is racial profiling, it should be prosecuted.
Chris Kohatsu May 27, 2010
I am sending this to Chief Cathy Lanier with a copy to Councilmember Phil Mendelson, Chairman of the Judiciary. I remember Bradley, sweet as can be. Unreal.
fosca May 27, 2010
hahaha, land of the free, hahaha
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