August 26, 2018

Black people are not allowed to sit in their cars outside their apartments, apparently. To do so risks arrest, and assault by police, as Jaquon Dean discovered on August 22, 2018.

As he sat in his car outside his apartment, he was approached by a security guard, who asked Jaquon if he lived there, and Jaquon answered that he did. The guard continued demanding to know his name, and when Jaquon would not tell him, he called the actual police.

Remember...Jaquon was doing nothing except sitting in his own car. And being Black. For these reasons, he was accosted by an over-zealous white man playing grown-up police man, and when Jaquon rightly concluded he had no obligation to give the man his personal info, the guard, James Reynolds called in the real-live cops on him.

This resulted in an arrest, from which Jaquon suffered an injury and now has no feeling in his hand. I would like to emphasize again, all because he was sitting in his own car.

Reynolds was wearing nothing official but a tactical vest with the word "POLICE" printed on it, and some kind of badge that is hard to read from the video, no other identifying information, and a whole lot of other weapon-like gadgets on his belt. He finally admitted to Dean he was a "courtesy officer" (what the hell is that?) for the apartment complex, and Dean refused to cooperate further, repeating that he lived there. Notice the actual police officers have badges and their names on their vests.

"Courtesy Officer" Reynolds actually used to be a real live police officer with the Marion County Sheriff's Office. He was terminated in 2013. Hmmmm. Does anyone wonder why? Was that badge leftover from his bygone sheriff days? If he was working for the apartment complex, wouldn't he have to wear something identifying him as being employed by the complex? Or at least that he was not an official on-duty police officer, like his tactical vest and gear might lead a layperson to believe?

Oh, and here's a shocker...John Reynolds is running for Hendricks County Council as a Republican.

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