#CleaningWhileBlack: Cops confront Black man picking up trash in his neighborhood
A man who was reportedly simply trying to keep the area around his home clean found himself detained by police who didn't believe he was supposed to be in that space
Boulder, Colo., residents swarmed a City Council meeting on Tuesday, angry over an incident in which a Black man was confronted by police for simply picking up trash on the street outside his own home.
On Friday, Boulder police approached and questioned the man doing his part to keep his neighborhood clean and asked him if he belonged. He was sitting in a partially enclosed patio area and told police he lived and worked in the building The Denver Post reports.
A neighbor started taking video of the confrontation between the man and an officer who called in backup, saying the man was being uncooperative and threatening with a blunt object in his hand. The man had a trash grabber in his hand that was latter deemed to be non-threatening. One officer had drawn a weapon.
The man reportedly showed police his identification. The officers still detained him, according to reports. Several officers, including a supervisor, responded to the scene.
“This is an extremely concerning issue, and one that we are taking very seriously,” Police Chief Greg Testa said, reading a prepared statement to council Tuesday.
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On Monday, Boulder police announced that an investigation into the matter has been launched.
During the City Council meeting, residents also held trash grabbers in support of the man.
Members of the council questioned Testa about the incident and what would come out of it as a result of the investigation, according to Boulder’s Daily Caller newspaper. Councilwoman Lisa Morzel wanted to know what warrants an officer drawing a weapon and what deems a particular number of officers to respond to a scene.
“I can only assert that given the information that was there, that was why the number of officers arrived,” said Testa. “I don’t want to make an assumption because an investigation is ongoing.”
The man in the incident is a student at Naropa University. Charles Lief, president of the school told the council what happened was “by far the most difficult one for us to address with respect to our relationships in the city of Boulder.
“I do not want to underestimate the amount of trauma that was experienced by our student, who was the victim in this situation,” Lief said.
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