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Cell phone video posted this week suggests that clashes between unarmed black men and police can happen over little more than sitting on a chair.
Chris Lollie, 28, says he was waiting to pick up his children in a skyway in St. Paul, Minnesota, after working the night shift in a nearby restaurant. A security guard told him the seemingly public area he was sitting in was reserved for employees. Lollie, suspecting he’s being singled out for his race, responded that there was no sign saying so. The guard called the police, who confronted Lollie.
The video begins while a female officer is questioning Lollie as the two of them walk down the skyway. In the video, Lollie calmly but firmly explains that he’s waiting for his children that he knows his rights. The conflict quickly escalates when a second, male officer arrives. “I’ve got to go get my kids,” Lollie tells the second officer, asking him not to touch him. “You’re going to go to jail, then,” the second officer says. “Put your hands behind your back or things are going to get ugly.”
“I haven’t done anything wrong,” Lollie says over and over again, before the officer screams, “Put your hands behind your back!” and uses his taser on him.
Police said Lollie was acting aggressively, and filed charges for trespassing, disorderly conduct, and obstructing the legal process, according to the Pioneer Press. All three charges were dropped last month after surveillance video and witness statements were shown in court. Lollie told the Pioneer Press that throughout the ordeal, he was “trying my hardest to maintain my calm demeanor just because I know if I do anything outside of these bounds, they could really do some damage to me.”
In the video, however, Lollie seems to be doing everything he can to keep the encounter from escalating prior to his arrest. He defends his legal rights but stays calm and measured throughout. And then he gets tased. “I’m a working man and I take care of my kids, and I get this?” he asks incredulously in the recording. “You tase me? For what?”
“The problem is, I’m black,” he says at one point in the video, again insisting he’s doing nothing wrong.
