In another case of racial profiling, a Black man driving a Bentley through Dayton, Ohio, was pulled over, handcuffed, and placed in the back of a patrol car while police searched his car for drugs, guns, or anything they could arrest him on.
After searching every crack and crevice in Paris Boyd’s Bentley, including using a police dog, the Dayton police officers were only able to issue him a citation for illegal tints.
“I checked every compartment I can think of,” one of the cops said in frustration after spending about 45 minutes searching the Bentley, only to find nothing.
“Like I said,” another cop chimed in. “Right car, wrong day.”
The incident took place on July 31, but Boyd just obtained the body camera videos last week and posted them on his Facebook page.
The videos were picked up by the YouTube police accountability page BP Cast, where more than 4,000 people have left comments in four days, most of them calling out the cops for their illegal search.
“Massive lawsuit incoming,” said a commenter that goes by @DrDoomFate. “Dude is about to buy another Bentley.”
“They didn’t even pretend,” said another commenter named @karinaz8756.
“They never asked for license and insurance. Immediately went into cuffs.”
Watch the video below:
‘What the Hell Is a Bentley Doing Over Here’
Dash camera footage from a Dayton police officer shows him pulling over Boyd after the Black man slowly drove past him.
The cop never said why he had pulled him over, but demanded to know, “Why are you so slow?” – when the video shows he was driving at a normal speed.
The cop ordered him out of the car without explaining why.
“Turn around, face the car, put your hands behind your back,” the cop ordered.
“What’d I do?” asked Boyd, who was complying with the cop’s orders.
“No weapons on you or anything like that?” the cop asked.
Boyd told him he had no guns or drugs in the car, but the cop did not believe him, calling the dispatcher to send over an officer with a police dog.
A Kettering police officer arrived with the dog and allowed it to sniff around the car. The K-9 made no obvious indication it had found drugs, but the cops acted as if the dog signaled for drugs and began searching the car without a warrant and without reasonable suspicion that he had committed a crime.
“WTF, that dog didn’t alert to sh_t,” said @hectorbart on the YouTube video. “Just reacting to the cop’s hand signals. This whole stop was one big civil rights violation.”
When the cops realized they were likely not going to find any guns or drugs, they began focusing on the darkness of Boyd’s window tints, determining they were illegal after measuring them with a tint meter.
Online court records from Dayton show Boyd was convicted of illegal tinting and ordered to pay a fine.
But by gathering the video evidence through a public records request, Boyd appears poised to file a lawsuit for having his rights violated. He also posted a photo of a receipt showing he paid $387.50 to obtain the videos.
“Dog scratches my doors, damage my vehicle, abuse my right(s),” “Share this post!!! Please.”
After the cops found nothing illegal, the cop who pulled him over admits to profiling Boyd based on the car he was driving.
“He drove by like 30 minutes earlier,” he said. “What the hell is a Bentley doing over here?”
But driving a Bentley at a normal speed is not enough to give police a reasonable suspicion that a crime is being committed — even if it is driven by a Black man.
“You have committed the crime of Driving While Black,” said @angc214. “The fact that you’re driving a Bentley means extra charges.”
Atlanta Black Star reached out to Boyd for an interview. He has not yet responded, but we will update this story if he does.
