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A black man from Edmonton, Alta. filmed an encounter with police on Thursday that has since gone viral for demonstrating what he calls “real policing.”
Kurt Thomas was pulled over heading home from work and said he decided to film the conversation considering the past week in the U.S., which ended with multiple black lives being lost at the hands of law enforcement, and retaliation against the police.
“I don’t want to be a statistic,” said Thomas. “I’m not ready to be a hashtag.”
To his surprise, when the officer returned from scanning his I.D. and insurance, he started talking to him about how he like driving his SUV, spurring a long conversation between the two about cars.
“I’m so happy that happened. That is the way it is supposed to be done. That is the way a police officer is supposed to do their job,” said Thomas, in a later video. “These last 72 hours I completely lost all my faith in police, all of it. I saw all these guys as legal gangsters.
“That is a dude that did his job exceptionally well. He deserves a raise.”
In Baton Rouge, 37-year-old Alton Sterling was shot and killed by police officers outside a convenience store early Tuesday morning, which was caught on video by a witness. In Minnesota, Philando Castile was shot by an officer Wednesday evening while his girlfriend taped her conversation with the police officer who did it to post to Facebook live.
“Imagine somebody that looks just like you getting killed for looking just like you,” said Thomas.
Before the week was over, five Dallas police officers were killed in a retaliation shooting at a peaceful Black Lives Matter protest on Thursday, ending with the sniper being bombed by police.
Thomas said the officer he dealt with was both hilarious and friendly, and finished off by telling him to stop because he cares and he doesn’t want him to get hurt.
“I’m not even mad I got a ticket!” said Thomas.
Thomas’ first video has since been viewed over 14,000 times on Facebook, with many praising law enforcement in Canada as the poster child for how it should be done.
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