Posted on May 16, 2018

NAACP Leader Accuses Cop of Racially Profiling, Harassing Him. The Body Cam Footage Tells a Different Story.

Amanda Prestigiacomo, Daily Wire, May 15, 2018

In a public Facebook post last month, the president of the Timmonsville, South Carolina NAACP chapter claimed he was racially profiled by a Timmonsville police officer, mocked, and accused of having drugs on him. The footage captured by the body camera of the attending officer, though, debunks the leader’s claims.

Rev. Jerrod Moultrie was pulled over on the night of April 12 for failing to signal before a turn. The following day, Moultrie took to Facebook, where he painted himself as a victim of a racist officer.

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“TONIGHT I WAS RACIALLY PROFILED By Timmonsville officer CAUSE I WAS DRIVING A MERCEDES BENZ AND GOING HOME IN A NICE NEIGHBORHOOD,” he started the post. “But you know tomorrow they will hear from me.”

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Yeah, that’s not what happened at all.

As reported by South Carolina Now (SCNOW) Morning News’ Shamira McCray, the body camera footage shows Officer Chris Miles explaining to Moultrie that he pulled him over only because he neglected to signal before a turn; he never asked him about drugs, questioned what he was doing in a nice neighborhood, nor mocked him with the alleged “Bill Gates” comment. The only semi-consistent part of the post was that Officer Miles suggested Moultrie not drive his new car until he gets the proper documentation sorted out. (See video below.)

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“But I think by [Moultrie] being the president of NAACP for the Timmonsville area, that it needs to be out to the public for the simple reason, if and when something else happens, they need to be able to look at the credibility of who’s presenting it,” said [Police Chief Billy] Brown. “I mean, if he lied about this to us, he’ll lie about anything to anyone. I just don’t think we need his type of representation.”

Moultrie was apparently “anointed” as leader of the NAACP chapter and not voted into the position by the community, as would typically be the case, Timmonsville Councilman Curtis Harris told SCNOW Morning News. Harris also slammed Moultrie for his false allegations of racism, which he said do not “have any basis of truth.”

“The way they rigged it, they wouldn’t let anybody else vote, closed vote,” said Harris.

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[Editor’s Note: Mr. Moutrie’s report on the exchange with the police officer is included in the original story.]