A Michigan cop ordered a Black man to stop walking on a public sidewalk in Grosse Pointe and then called him an idiot when the man revealed that he knew his rights, video shows.
Viewers are applauding Price Lomonte’s courage in refusing to be intimidated “into submission,” as one put it, and his instinct to record the entire interaction.
The footage, circulating on social media, shows several officers descending on Lomonte as he strolled down a street in the wealthy suburban enclave outside Detroit. The police said they were responding to a call from a neighbor about the man’s presence in the area, first telling him he was “under investigation,” then saying they were simply checking on him because he looked “lost.”
The officer ordered Lomonte to stop walking and even to stop moving, which he appeared to do, according to the video. But Lomonte decided he wouldn’t fully back down that day.“You can’t get in my face,” he told the officer, who had forced him off the sidewalk onto the tree lawn. “Can you give me space, damn.”
Then he accused the officer of racial profiling, which prompted the officer to become irate and scream, “When are you going to listen?”
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But Lomonte stuck to his guns and reiterated, “That’s profiling. I’m not an idiot, I’m not stupid.”
“Yes, you are,” the cop told him, before falsely stating that profiling cannot happen if police respond to a call. The officer’s claim is a common misconception. Racial profiling can occur at any point during a call response, regardless of how the encounter was initiated.
“You said I look lost, really? Because I’m a Black man in a white neighborhood,” Lomonte pushed back. “That’s what we’re doing.”
After a tense back-and-forth, the officers demanded to know where Lomonte lived and to see his identification. Once again, he knew his rights and refused to provide either, even adding: “That’s none of your business.” Michigan does not have a “stop-and-identify” law that requires citizens to show ID or provide their address to police unless they have been arrested. So, the police had no choice but to let him go.
He got one last word in before the video ended, “That’s profiling. I know what’s going on.”
Viewers cheered him on in the comments on Threads, where the video was shared on May 31.
One fan wrote, “Best part was the cop trying to raise his voice and getting absolutely nothing out of it. Hate this for the victim, but incredibly impressed by his ability to stay calm.”
Another chimed in, “He asked what the crime was. It’s a Black man walking in a white neighborhood.” Others agreed, saying, “it’s always walking while Black, driving while Black, existing while Black. That didn’t sound like a help call, more like someone saw a Black man and decided he didn’t belong.”
