OMAHA, Neb. (AP) — The police chief of Nebraska’s largest city acknowledged Friday that police nationwide are more likely to pull Black people out of their cars at gunpoint than other racial groups as Omaha grapples with growing outrage over champion boxer Terence “Bud” Crawford being ordered out of his car at gunpoint only hours after the city held a downtown celebration in his honor.
“Quite frankly, that is generally a true statement. The number of stops are disproportionate. That is nationwide,” Police Chief Tobb Schmaderer said at a news conference to address an internal investigation into Crawford’s traffic stop.
The police confrontation with Crawford, who is Black, has reignited long-simmering tensions between Omaha’s Black community and its police force. Omaha Sen. Terrell McKinney, one of three Black state lawmakers in the Nebraska Legislature and a vocal critic of Omaha police and the state’s justice system, said he was disappointed — but not surprised — by the police stop.
“I urge the people to keep speaking out and demanding real change boldly and unapologetically,” McKinney said in a Facebook post earlier this week. “Our lives are at risk, and we have endured oppression for far too long.”
According to a U.S. Bureau of Justice Statistics’ special report released in 2022, Black and Hispanic people were more likely than white people to experience the threat or use of force by police in 2020. Black people were also more likely to be shouted at by police than white people.
Police chief long an advocate for community policing
Schmaderer has long been an advocate of community policing that aims to build trust between officers and the public they patrol. He said Friday that he understands there is a lot of anger in the community over the treatment of Crawford — a favorite son of Omaha after making history by becoming the first male boxer to capture three unified division titles.
“We understand the importance of this traffic stop to our community, and the implications and the impression it has given out,” he said.
But he said a nearly completed internal investigation into the traffic stop shows the officers involved did not violate department policy.
According to their reports, the officers spotted a high-performance sedan without license plates pull out of a downtown parking garage around 1:30 a.m. Sunday and quickly accelerate to more than twice the 25 mph (40 kph) speed limit. The officers did not know Crawford was driving the car, Schmaderer said, before they pulled it over. Two officers approached it — one on the passenger side and another on the driver’s side.
Schmaderer said the initial interaction was cordial, which he assessed through body camera footage. Crawford, who was driving, told the officer at his window that the car was new and “had gotten away from him.”
At that point, a member of Crawford’s security team who was in the passenger seat told the officer at his window that he was carrying a legal handgun, Schmaderer said. Crawford, who was leaning over the car’s console, told that officer he also had a legal firearm, but the officer at the driver’s side window didn’t hear that exchange, Schmaderer said.
That is when the officer on the driver’s side spotted Crawford’s gun on the floorboard by his feet, pulled his service weapon and ordered Crawford and three other people out. Schmaderer said Crawford and the others were handcuffed for about 10 minutes. Police confirmed all occupants of the vehicle were legally permitted to carry firearms and let them go after about 30 minutes, ticketing Crawford on suspicion of reckless driving.
Crawford’s spokesperson said Friday that the boxer had no comment.
Video of incident won’t be released, chief says
Schmaderer said he will not be sharing police video of the stop unless Crawford agrees to it.
“We don’t have a fatality here. We don’t have an officer-involved shooting, and it’s generally not our protocol to release that footage under those circumstances,” he said.
Crawford’s stop by police came after the city held a parade through downtown streets in Crawford’s honor, followed by a party to celebrate his 38th birthday at a live music venue near where the stop occurred.
The celebration came after Crawford earned the unified super middleweight championship with his unanimous decision victory over Canelo Alvarez on Sept. 13 in Las Vegas. Crawford is 42-0 with 31 knockouts.
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Associated Press Race And Ethnicity News Editor Aaron Morrison contributed to this report from New York.