Everyone knows that driving while Black is a very real — and very dangerous —thing. Recently, two older Black men in Georgia claimed that this is the reason they were arrested during two separate traffic stops by the same state trooper.
Last week, Samuel McCrary, 84, had driving while under the influence charges dropped against him after laboratory tests came back negative for all substances. The other man who believes he was racially profiled, James Mathis, 61, is still facing charges from a nearly identical experience.
Both traffic stops were with the same white officer, Andrew Thompson. McCrary told local news outlet WMAZ how traumatized he was from the incident.
“[Thompson] destroyed my whole world, I tell you,” McCrary stated. “I couldn’t sleep at night.” McCrary was pulled over for a license plate issue in October. He tried explaining to Thompson that he had mobility issues and was taking prescribed medication.
He was arrested anyway after being accused of driving under the influence.
“[Thompson] said, ‘You’ve been drinking?’ I said, ‘I don’t drink.’ He said, ‘Come on around and step in front of my car,’ ” McCrary recalled. He was taken to Peach County Hospital for blood tests then transported to jail before posting bond.
Court records revealed that all charges were dismissed last Wednesday after test results showed no intoxicating substances present in his system. Mathis also claimed an eerily similar encounter happened to him with Thompson in August.
Mathis said the trooper accused him of failing to make a complete stop at a stop sign, though Mathis denied this assertion. Thompson then accused him of drinking.
“They dragged me out of my car. Handcuffed. I’ve asked him three times to loosen the handcuffs,” Mathis said, who currently suffers from diabetes and had surgery in 2009. His case is still pending.
The Houston County NAACP plans to examine legal options to deal with what they consider a pattern of misconduct and alleged racial profiling by the local troopers in the area.