Polk County, Iowa—Des Moines—is 4.84% black and 88.34% white. But a community group there claims that of one police officer’s 282 traffic stops and bookings, 100% of the drivers were black and 0 percent white. So this dashcam footage of one of his stops there was no surprise to the locals.
Montray Little was pulled over by officers Kyle Thies and Natalie Heinemann despite video showing no obvious traffic violations. Little and his passenger, Jared Clinton, are accused of having drugs in the car and acting like they have a weapon as well. Little is handcuffed and Clinton is taken out of the car while they and the vehicle are searched. No drugs or weapons were found. Police did find an open bottle of alcohol which they had the men dump out.
Kyle Thies is the problem officer: “Can I be honest with you? It smells like marijuana in the car and I can see shake on the ground and your buddy’s giving me the idea that he’s got a gun. That’s what I think. I dunno, just he way you’re holding yourself, that’s why I’m nervous.”