A 13-year veteran Plano, Texas police officer is
possibly in hot water after a video appeared on
Daniel Acosta's Facebook page showing officer Jeff Willis threatening a car filled
with teenagers. Mexican teenagers.
The teen driver did not immediately respond to The News’ request seeking comment. He told CBS 11 that the officer pulled him over at a car meet near the Dallas North Tollway and Spring Creek Parkway and accused one of his passengers of showing him the middle finger.
At the start of the video, Willis tells the driver he needs to leave and then tells him to stop smiling.
As the video plays out it seems that the kids are nervous and laughing and Willis, acting like a humiliated hothead, gets more and more frustrated. Luckily, no one was killed. However, this is a microcosm of a fundamental problem in police interactions with people of color and youth as well. They want to demand respect and while that would be nice if people respected police (especially when they actually act in a way to deserve respect), it's not a requirement of the citizens they are sworn to protect and serve.
I worked in the New York Public library when I was 23 years old. The NYPL gets about .01 percent of 1 percent of zero percent of New York residents' tax dollars. The number of times people would say things like "my taxes pay for your job" or just act in a general jerkitude towards me was remarkable and infuriating. I can understand the frustration. But I wasn't allowed to yell at patrons of the library when they were being complete and utter meanies. One time, after being told by a particularly obnoxious patron how my salary was paid for by his tax dollars, I flipped a quarter at him from my pocket and told him that he was paid up for life and that the public library owed him no more debt. I was admonished pretty quickly for that infraction and it was put on my work record.
Here are some other quotes from Jeff Willis to the car filled with teenagers:
"I don't know, I just don't like you."
"Asshole."
"Say something else and I'll drag you out of the car."
Watch the video below the fold.