Two videos surfaced on social media Wednesday showing an Illinois cop attempting to get a man to show him his identification after he had purchased some scratch-off tickets from 7-11.
Officer Pack of the Evanston Police Department claimed they received “a call” about a man “acting weird” in front of the store, which was why James Collins was required to produce his identification.
But Collins knew his rights and the law and refused to hand the cop his identification.
After all, police need to articulate a reasonable suspicion that you are involved in a crime before you are legally required to hand over your identification.
And merely “acting weird” does not fit this criteria.
The first video starts off with Pack demanding Collins' identification as he is trying to cash in his winnings from his scratch-off lottery tickets.
Collins states that Pack told him that he is not arrested or being detained but is requesting his identification.
“I am talking to you, on a call, so we have to find out who you are,” Pack tells Collins.
Collins quickly responds that he knows his rights.
“We are talking, having a conversation,” Collins says.
“Right, somebody called,” Pack says.
Collins goes on to ask the store employee if he called and was told no. Collins proceeds to tell the officer that the businesses around are closed and the only other person is the person seen entering the 7-11 after the recording started.
The first video ends with Collins saying he has his identification and the second video picks up with them in the 7-11 parking lot. We merged both videos above into one video.
Collins tells the officer that he will be calling Mayor Steve Hagerty to report the officer.
Fifty seconds into the second video, a woman in the background can be heard stating she called the police to ask if there was a call to 7-11 and was told that no one called to have an officer at the 7-11.
Twenty seconds later, Collins tells the woman that the officer is racist and is profiling him.
“This is why we have problems with cops and black people. I was doing nothing wrong bro but you are fucking with me,” Collins tells the officer near the end of the video, “You did not get no call bro, stop lying. You are an officer of the law, why are you lying?”
The video ends with Collins walking away without showing his identification.
Earlier this year, Evanston Police Chief Richard Eddington confirmed African-American residents are subjected to “stop and frisk” by officers than any other racial group in the city, according to Chicago Tribune.
Last year, Evanston officers were caught beating a black man by their own cameras.
First video: here
Second video: here
