Actor Michael Rainey Jr. shared an intense moment he experienced recently after supposedly being pulled over by a police officer for a traffic stop.
In a clip that was shared to his Instagram Stories on what appeared to be a backup page titled @whereis22, the 20-year-old wrote, “This guy was bout to shoot me I swear that camera saved my life 😢 😢.”
The nine-second video, shown from a perspective inside the car, depicts a policeman at the driver’s side window with a hand on his holster saying “just give me your license” as someone who ostensibly is Rainey is rummaging through the car looking for his identification. The actor continued, “Look what he does as soon as he looks into the lens. Someone, please send me his precinct or whatever if you know. These power-tripping ass police need they badge taken. Unlawful traffic stop.”
The “Power Book” star claimed that he wasn’t told why he was pulled over and that the unidentified officer had his hand on his gun. “Didn’t even pull me over. Didn’t tell me what I was being pulled over for. Just came to whip yelling and sh-t wit his hand on his gun 😓 😓 this guy also said stop reaching while I was looking for my license, I guess he was tryna come up with a reason to shoot me,” he wrote.
There’s no other information provided about the incident by the actor. Rainey claimed his video only caught the tail end of the encounter, although the context shown suggests otherwise if he had not given the officer his license yet. In another post shared to that same social media account, the actor’s only additional comment was to suggest someone can’t be Black in this world with a nice car or success without being persecuted. “That’s why we gotta keep being Black and keep getting nice cars on this motherf-cker,” he added.
The actor did not further speak on the situation. However, his story bothered many online who were all too familiar with stories of Blacks losing their lives following traffic stops.
One Twitter user wrote, “My day was going great, then I watched the video of Michael Rainey Jr. getting pulled over for driving a luxury car in NY.”
Another person commented, “Yo this is crazy… cop ready too pull the burner out on michael rainey jr 🤦🏽♂️ evil world we live in.”
“P.O.C where???? Michael Rainey jr. was fortunate that this wasn’t a white cop. They don’t give a damn about camera’s,” a third wrote.
“Power” creator and rapper 50 Cent also reacted to news of Michael’s police encounter after blog site The Shaderoom reposted the video, writing, “Dam 🤦🏽♂️ this is crazy.”
