I’m not really trying to be funny by what I say next, but what is up with Arizona teas, law enforcement, and young black men having their rights violated?
We already know about the extremely sad and unfortunate case of Trayvon Martin being gunned down by wannabe cop George Zimmerman on his way home from 7-11 after buying a canned Arizona beverage and a bag of Skittles, but now there’s another incident involving Arizona tea and a young black male’s rights being violated. And although it doesn’t end with death, it involves this man being arrested by an authoritative figure, this time it’s by an actual cop.
And it’s all caught on tape, which surprisingly doesn’t stop the cop from carrying out his assault on this unsuspecting bystander.
Two videos (below) of the arrest of rapper Xstrav (Christopher Beatty) on April 29 outside an ABC Liquor Store in Fayetteville, North Carolina, have gone viral on the web.
Xstrav and fellow rapper Tino Brown were waiting in the parking lot for Money Mal to meet them when a man walked up and asked repeatedly what Xstrav was drinking.
Brown, who was holding a camera or a cell phone, recorded the entire incident.
Xstrav told the man several times he was drinking Arizona Half & Half Iced Tea. Xstrav then asked the man several times to identify himself, to which he finally said “police,” but did not immediately show a badge or other form of ID.
The plainclothes police officer told Xstrav that he was “trespassing” and had to leave the property. When the rapper refused, the officer wrestled Xstrav to the ground and handcuffed him.
The plainclothes police officer did flash what may have been a badge for a few seconds, but apparently did not read Xstrav his Miranda Rights.
In the second video, a police car drove up with a uniformed police officer and Xstrav was led into the police car.
While some viewers have suggested the videos were fake, the North Carolina Court System website shows Beatty was charged with trespassing and resisting a public officer.
We all are taught that we should sometimes walk away from confrontation instead of embracing it. But so many times it seems that that the police don’t often embrace this rule and cross that line repeatedly. Something has to be done. There are too many incidents like this happening that gives the rest of the police force a bad name.
Common sense should be the one trait that all police or people in authority should have and unfortunately for Christopher Beatty, he encountered one who didn’t know the meaning of it.
