Lake County Sheriff Brian Martin was on community radio Friday morning giving the Lake County Sheriff Office’s account of a traffic stop in Kelseyville which occurred last week involving a Black newlywed couple celebrating a honeymoon trip outside of their own area. Like Martin said in a video posted on the LCSO page, traffic stops happen on a routine basis, there were 19 traffic stops alone on the day this specific one was made, but what brought it to his attention was the response the incident was receiving on social media channels.
According to a post made public by the Airbnb owner where they stayed (which has since been taken down) “they were nervous about leaving the city area and coming out to the country so they did some research before they booked our Airbnb and saw that we looked like we were probably a place where they could feel safe.”
The vacation rental owner went on to explain that on their second night, the couple went for a short drive down the road to Kelseyville to pick up a pizza for dinner. They were stopped by a deputy for going five miles under the speed limit and they asked to see the groom’s identification, even though he was not driving. According to the post, the police car followed them back to where they were staying and the lady who was driving was “trembling with fear and very stressed out.”
The vacation rental owner went on to explain she had posted the story with the couple’s blessing because even though the couple felt it ruined their honeymoon and vowed never to come back to Lake County, “they still believe in the goodness of people and that through unity we can bring about real change.”
It doesn’t seem to have swayed the county residents sitting behind their computer keyboards, monitors and tablets who were complimentary of the deputy and law enforcement, but the vast majority of who were quick to judge and condemn the vacationing couple for feeling threatened and or uncomfortable, to the point of being visibly shaking and crying on the bodycam video posted by the LCSO. Some went as far as to demand an apology for ruining the deputy’s reputation. Really? over one incident?
For the record, upon initial viewing I did not see much wrong with the interaction between the deputy and the couple and even gave praise to Martin about the department’s transparency. “My hope in publishing this video is to provide a learning opportunity, not just a learning opportunity for law enforcement officers and not just a learning opportunity for community members, but an opportunity for everyone,” said Martin in the video while acknowledging the interaction was not perfect.
Some questions went unanswered by the Sheriff in both the video posted online and in his recent radio summation. Why did the deputy ask for both the passenger and driver’s identifications? Is this typical of these type of traffic stops? Was there any validity to the claim that the deputy followed the couple back to their rental? (The lady driver claimed this occurred to both this newspaper and to the Airbnb owners.) Why were such questions such as “Where are you going today” and other queries made, why was there a call for backup? Is this also standard procedure in a routine stop?
In my opinion, while I praise Martin and the department for being transparent with the public during a time where racial tensions between law enforcement and the people they are sworn to protect appears to be at an all time high, I do think an opportunity was missed to further the conversation and to show more empathy towards the people involved in the unfortunate incident.
Why do I say this? Simply because the incident took place in the wake of yet another police shooting involving a Black person. the trend of fatal police shootings in the United States seems to only be increasing, with a total 661 civilians having been shot, 123 of whom were Black, as of August 30, 2020 according to Statistica and other outlets which track these incidents routinely. While this type of problem does not seem to be prevalent in Lake County, the problem with social media is that everyone can jump on the Facebook, Instagram and Twitter bandwagon without first knowing all the facts. We should work on this.
Ariel Carmona is the Managing Editor of the Lake County Record-Bee.
