Cops held me at gunpoint: Ving
Los Angeles: Ving Rhames has revealed he was held at gunpoint in his home earlier this year when a neighbour reported that “a large black man” had broken in.
The Mission: Impossible - Fallout star was asked about his experience with racism on SiriusXM’s The Clay Cane Show when he disclosed that the incident occurred while he was watching ESPN at his home in Santa Monica. “I get up, I open the door and there's a red dot pointed at my face from a 9- millimeter, and they say, Put up your hands. Literally,” he said.
Rhames added that the team of police included a man the actor said, was the captain, who recognised him because their sons play basketball against each other.
“They recognised me and apologised, and I said, Why are you doing this?” he said. Rhames said, “He said to me, A woman called 911 and said a large black man was breaking in to the house.”
The actor said he and the police then went over to the woman’s house, and she denied making the call. “So here I am, in my own home, alone in some basketball shorts, just because someone called and says a large black man is breaking in... My problem is, what if it was my son and he had a video game remote or something and ( the police) thought it was a gun just like Trayvon ( Martin) had a bag of Skittles?, the actor said.”
Martin was an unarmed 17- year- old student shot and killed by neighbourhood watchman George Zimmerman in 2012, who was later acquitted on a second- degree murder charge.