The Officer Harassed a Black Man for Washing His Car, Unaware the Man Was His Police Sergeant and His Career Was About to End

The implication was clear. Submit, don’t question, don’t assert your rights. Just comply with whatever a police officer demands, legal basis or not. That’s when Whitmore made his decision. He identified himself, stated his name, his rank, added that he was sure Castellano recognized the name, though from the look on Castellano’s face, he clearly didn’t.

Then Whitmore asked for Castellano’s badge number and informed him he was in big trouble. You could see it in the body camera footage. Castellano’s face went from confident authority to absolute shock. His mouth opened, but no words came out. His hand dropped from where it had been resting near his weapon.

He took an involuntary step backward. Whitmore let the silence hang for a moment. Then he spoke, his voice calm but with an edge of steel. He asked Castellano for his badge number. Castellano, still in shock, stammered out 2847.

Whitmore then asked Castellano to explain in detail what reasonable suspicion he had to stop someone washing a car in their own driveway. What exactly about the call justified this stop? Castellano tried to recover. He said he got a call about someone who looked suspicious. Whitmore asked what the call said specifically.

Castellano repeated that someone didn’t look like they belonged. Whitmore pressed harder. What made them suspicious? What criminal activity was reported? Castellano had no answer that didn’t involve racial profiling.

He hadn’t been told about any crime, he hadn’t observed any suspicious behavior, he had simply been told someone didn’t look like they belonged, and he had seen a black man washing a car. Whitmore asked if Castellano had verified the address of the complaint. Castellano hadn’t. Whitmore asked if Castellano had called for any additional information from dispatch. Castellano hadn’t.

Whitmore asked if Castellano had observed any actual criminal behavior before approaching. Castellano hadn’t. Whitmore then asked the question that would become central to the investigation that followed. He asked Castellano if the only reason for the stop was the fact that Whitmore was a black man in a predominantly white neighborhood. Was that what didn’t look like they belonged actually meant?