A Michigan man is going viral for a social experiment he conducted last year to see how long, as a white man, he could drive around without his license plates without being pulled over to prove racial and class bias in local policing.
At a city commission meeting in Grand Rapids on Feb. 24, a resident who identified himself as Lucas G.R. took the podium and explained to his local leaders that five days a week, he drove across town to work — through five different police jurisdictions — without his license plates.
“I was never stopped or questioned once. But please do keep telling us there’s no racial or class bias in policing,” he said. “I bet if I started riding my bike around with a gun on me, nobody would call.”
The citizen used that example to segue into his criticism of a recent officer-involved shooting in which that exact scenario was played out.
On Feb. 18, local cops stopped 32-year-old Daquain Johnson, a Black man and father of three, as he was riding a bike because they thought he was armed with a handgun.
Bodycam footage of the fatal police encounter shows a Grand Rapids cop sic a K-9 police dog on Johnson as he runs away. As the dog tackles Johnson to the ground and tears into his clothes, the officer stoops over Johnson and fatally shoots him three times.
“As a white guy from the South, I gotta say that when I see a Black man running away having dogs sicced on them, it’s reminiscent of plantations of the Ole South,” G.R. said at the city commission meeting.
The police chief maintained that the dog protected the officer after Johnson pointed a firearm at the cop, but the body camera video doesn’t show Johnson brandishing a weapon. Authorities say they did find a loaded handgun beneath Johnson.
The 32-year-old’s death triggered public outcry and drew backlash from local leaders. Grand Rapids Mayor David LaGrand challenged the use of K-9 officers in police encounters with citizens and pitched local police reform.
“If my dog did what I saw in that video, I’d put my dog down,” LaGrand said, per WOOD.
Even though LaGrand conveyed an extreme stance on the matter, the resident who went viral for his remarks at the city commission meeting believes it was merely posturing and political theater.
“Look, David, I get it. You’re insulted and maybe a little butthurt that people like me will come up here and get on you about your promises,” Lucas G.R. asserted to LaGrand’s face. “You’re the one who promised to take on policing as an issue in your campaign and that we shouldn’t be arresting people all the time for every little thing. And then you went and made a video carrying water for exactly that.”
Video of the city commission meeting can be viewed below. The resident’s remarks are seen at the 37:35 time mark.
