Another Black man nearly lost his life after being stopped by police. According to WREG, Edrick Truitt was parked at a convenience store and waiting on a family member in Jonesboro, AK., when he was approached by a White cop.
The cop from the Helena Police Department approached Truitt and pointed a gun in his face without warning. Truitt immediately began streaming the encounter on Facebook Live.
The video shows the cop screaming at Truitt, “shut your car off!” Truitt responded by asking the cop what he did wrong. He told the cop that he is afraid of being shot if he turned the car off.
The officer yelled, “he’s got a gun!” Followed by, “Gun!”
Truitt responded by asking, “Where? My hands [are] in the air.”
The cop calls for backup while continuing to point the gun at Truitt who asked several times which law was broken. The cop finally responded by claiming he failed to comply with a “lawful order.”
The officer gave two different accounts by saying, Truitt “came back” to the parking lot and that he also “never left the parking lot.”
Later in the video, Truitt calmly told the cop that he had a registered gun on the backseat of the car. Arkansas law allows for open-carry without a permit.
The police department is currently reviewing the body camera footage to determine if the officer broke any rules. Truitt admits that he was “really scared” during the incident and still doesn’t understand what he did wrong.
Police did not charge Truitt with any gun-related charges and have not released the officer’s name.
View the encounter after the page break.
