Racism wasn’t a factor in Va. Beach mall incident
I’m writing in response to the Jan. 8 “Other Views” column, “Virginia Beach incident confirms need for dialogue on race.”
I am representing Officer Bryan Kling. Officer Kling was one of two Virginia Beach police officers shown in a video on “Good Morning America” where it was implied that he and the other officer had racially profiled an innocent Black man. Unfortunately, the “Other Views” column by Paul Butler is not the “other view” at all. It is the prevailing view. Butler states, “If incidents like this keep happening, America will never heal.” Looking at the comments online, you would think that the police received a call that a crime had been committed in Lynnhaven Mall, they went to the mall, they saw a young Black man with dreads, and they said, “He is the most likely person here to have committed the crime.”
Here’s what actually happened: A young Black man with dreads stole a credit card. The police were able to track its use as it went from business to business within Lynnhaven Mall.
The police got a description of the man using the card. Jamar Mackey fit the description. Mackey was positively identified as the person who had been using the stolen credit card. After tracking the use of the card to the food court, after receiving the description of the suspect and after having Mackey positively identified as the person who had been using the card, Mackey was then approached and handcuffed by a Virginia Beach police officer.
Less than five minutes later, after confirming that Mackey was not the criminal, Mackey was unhandcuffed, released and apologized to by the officers involved. Far from being an incident that will prevent America from “ever healing,” this incident should be held up as an example of how America is healing.
The entire incident took less than five minutes. Yet, it is now being held up as an example of rogue police officers racially profiling an innocent Black man.
A local state representative went on national television and said, “This is how Black males get treated in Virginia Beach” implying, not so subtly, that Mackey had been treated wrongfully by out-of-control police officers. Mackey now says he caught COVID-19 from the police officers and that he could have been shot or tased.
He did not catch COVID-19 from the police officers. They both tested negative after the incident. He did not get shot or tased.
I would hope that we would soon reach a point in this country where every Black man can feel as comfortable walking around as I do. We are not there yet. We will not get there in my lifetime. I pray we will get there in my children’s lifetime.
However, we are not going to get there if we insist on looking at every incident through the lens of race. This incident was not about race. Every incident is not about race.
We have seemingly lost the capacity in this country to see even two sides of an issue, let alone all sides.
We all have our life’s experiences that color how we see things and how we react. However, when we see a situation like this, when everyone acts appropriately and the incident lasts less than five minutes and ends in a sincere apology, we need to celebrate this. We need to hold it up and scream, “This is Virginia Beach. This is how we handle things here. This is the right way to do things.”
Mr. Mackey and the police officers involved in this incident should be hailed as examples of how to handle a bad situation.
Bob Haddad
is an attorney in Virginia Beach who has represented people against the Virginia Beach Police Department.
We have seemingly lost the capacity in this country to see even two sides of an issue, let alone all sides.