Ricky Williams briefly stopped by Tex. cops
FORMER NFL running back Ricky Williams says he was racially profiled by police in Texas after going for a walk near his hotel.
Williams asks the cops, “Do you know how many times I’ve been messed with by cops just for being black?” in dashcam footage released by police Friday.
Williams was in the town of Tyler, Tex., to attend the Earl Campbell Tyler Rose Award ceremony on Jan. 11. He was staying at a Courtyard Marriott and decided to go for a walk to kill some time before the ceremony that evening.
The 39-year-old Heisman Trophy winner is seen in the beginning of the video being asked to stand in front of a cop car before being searched for weapons. One of the officers even comments that the former Miami Dolphin “looked like Ricky Williams.”
Williams, who is a current “Celebrity Apprentice” cast member, can be heard responding, “I am Ricky Williams.”
The officers explain that they received a call about a man who was hopping fences and loitering in a nearby backyard.
After Williams denied being the one climbing fences, the exchange grew heated.
“Here’s the thing. I know more than what you think I know,” one cop tells Williams. “I know that you were in the back of somebody’s yard back there. Is there a reason you were in somebody’s yard?”
The police officers, after accusing him of stealing a tape measure, eventually allowed Williams to leave and he was not charged.
Tyler police department spokesman Don Martin defended the officer to the Tyler Morning Telegraph.
“We feel that our officers did a professional job and did the proper job,” he said. “Bottom line, if this person had not gone back into an area and acted in a suspicious manner the way he did then this never would have happened.”
Williams described the incident on “The Dudley and Bob Show” on Austin radio station KLBJ 93.7 Wednesday.
“They had me put my hands behind my back. They didn’t cuff me. They had me take everything out of my pockets and they started questioning me,” he said. “I started to get upset. They told me to calm down. I said, ‘You don’t know what it’s like to be a black man, and it’s not the first time.’ ”
After that interview, Martin reached out to Williams. “We visited about the incident, and we came to the positive conclusion that he’s very welcome in Tyler, Tex.,” Martin said. “And I hope I can spend some time with him when he does return. I even invited him to stay with my family when he’s here; we have a guest room he’s welcome to.”
Williams did not indicate if he would pursue legal action against the department.