Yes, Rapper and Actor, TI, the star of the movie The Takers, was arrested for felony possession of a controlled substance while driving his two-toned $400,000 Maybach automobile along Sunset Blvd in Los Angeles. While it's far from the first arrest for Ti, one with any sense and honest knowledge of American cultural history has to ask if this is a case of DWB - Driving While Black.
Think about it. Ti was driving a car worth a half-million at night, without all-around tinted windows, and in an urban area that has a history of such stops. Ti was accused of making an illegal U turn, which can be easily questioned based on how the car was actually steered. In other words, perhaps Ti pulled into a driveway, then after a beat, backed out of it. The point is, the traffic stop itself wasn't necessary at all. Ti wasn't speeding and he did not run a red light.
A police officer would see someone who looks like Ti and figure it was a perfect situation to use as a reason to stop-and-search. That's what the LAPD did. That stop is perfectly described at the website Harris - Driving While Black out of The University of Dayton. Here's what the website reports:
It has happened to actors Wesley Snipes, Will Smith, Blair Underwood, and LeVar Burton. It has also happened to football player Marcus Allen, and Olympic athletes Al Joyner and Edwin Moses. African-Americans call it "driving while black"--police officers stopping, questioning, and even searching black drivers who have committed no crime, based on the excuse of a traffic offense. And it has even happened to O.J. Simpson lawyer Johnnie Cochran.
In his pre-Simpson days, Cochran worked hand-in-hand with police officers as an Assistant District Attorney in Los Angeles, putting criminals behind bars. Cochran was driving down Sunset Boulevard one Saturday afternoon with his two youngest children in the back seat when a police car stopped him. Looking in his rearview mirror, Cochran got a frightening shock: "the police were out of their car with their guns out." The officers said that they thought Cochran was driving a stolen car, and with no legal basis they began to search it. But instead of finding evidence, they found Cochran's official badge, identifying him as an Assistant District Attorney. "When they saw my badge, they ran for cover," Cochran said.
Now given that history, it's also without question that Ti and his wife should know better than to have anything that looks like it might be a target for a police officer bust in their car.
Different From Paris Hilton Case
How is Ti's arrest different from Paris Hilton's? In that case, A Las Vegas motorcycle police officer smelled the smoke from their marijuana and stopped them. Which means they were just being stupid, driving with the windows down near the The Wynn Hotel and getting high, allegedly. That was not the case for Ti. His stop was the classic traffic stop scenario that fits the DWB profile.
Was it really necessary to stop Ti? No. At that time of night, in this lousy economy, it's a safe bet Sunset Blvd wasn't teaming with cars where an alleged illegal U turn would have been unsafe. In fact, that may have made Ti easier to spot by the LAPD.
The bottom line is if you're African American, even in 2010, and you drive an expensive car, or in this case, mega-expensive, you have to be careful. DWB is still a problem; just ask Ti and Tameka Cottle.
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