Commentary: Curb Your Outrage Over The Viral Oakland Deputy Video

Sometimes a brief, arms-length investigative stop is doing it right.

No doubt I'd have been as puzzled as Brandon McKean if questioned because someone thought pocketed hands look sketchy. No, that never happened to me -- and probably not just because I wear gloves when walking on cold days.

Still, what does and doesn't happen on the 70-second Thanksgiving Day video hardly supports an outraged outcry. This was stop-and-ask, not stop-and-frisk.

The Oakland deputy taped by Brandon McKean. "I'm just checking on you. If you're fine, we're good."

Any racial profiling was done by the unidentified Pontiac store manager or owner who called, not the Oakland deputy who caught the run. We have no idea whether the caller was Hispanic, Asian, African American or white.

We do know the responding deputy is white and McKean is black. Does that automatically color everything? Not necessarily, I say.

The sheriff's officer is low-key and not hostile -- sure, maybe because McKean is taping -- and appears to feel unthreatened. He doesn't:

Unholster his sidearm.
Use cuffs "for my safety," as cops sometimes say.
Ask to check the pockets.
Ask McKean to sit on the curb or in the cruiser.
Ask for ID, destination or where he lives.

One of McKean's social media contacts, Lisa Pine, posts on his Facebook page Sunday: "Thank god the officer was doing his job from the radio call he got."

Indeed, imagine the original caller's reaction if his or her report had been ignored and a robbery followed. "To be fair, it appears both parties thought the situation was bullshit," a Gawker reader comments under that site's post about the video. "The cop knew it was bullshit. Unfortunately, once he's dispatched he can't just blow off the call and ignore it. I'd point the righteous anger at the racist pricks who called this crap in."

Here's relevant context for the call and response, as Undersherrif Michael McCabe tells George Hunter of The Detroit News:

"The store that called about the man has been robbed multiple times in the last year," McCabe said. "In addition, employees have been robbed while making deliveries.

"According to the caller, this man was walking back and forth in front of the store five or six times."

Brandon McKean in a Facebook photo.

"Well, hey, we've got to check," the deputy says on the video, seen more than 225,000 times on YouTube. "If you were nervous, if you called us, we'd check for you."

Of course the curbside incident with an armed, uniformed stranger irritated McKean. Who among us wouldn't be embarrassed and annoyed to be accosted publicly for that reason while lights flash on a nearby vehicle?

But in my eyes, it falls shy of what online critics say below. (Some commented before the sheriff's department response.)

♦ "Unbelievable:" The fact that it was called in to police and was responded to is unbelievable. While many may not believe that racial profiling exists, it is blatantly apparent that it does. I have been a victim of it myself. . . . This incident is clearly a violation of civil liberties as well as racial profiling. -- Reginald Jones of Detroit, at The Pontiac Tribune

♦ Needless follow-up: It's one thing to be the paranoid dumb-ass making the call. It's another to be the one who follows up on it and thinks he has to question you. -- Rosemary Wessel at McKean's Facebook page

♦ "Abuse:" Police must stop this abuse. -- Steve Neavling, Detroit journalist, at his Facebook page

♦ "Infuriating:" When a person's mere existence is cause for suspicion, and situations like this occur daily to a specific group, it is not only exhausting but infuriating. The cop could have simply observed.
-- Charlie Smile at our Facebook page

♦ "Born suspects:" This is just more evidence that black men are often treated like born suspects by law enforcement officials. -- Kim Trent, Wayne State trustee, on her Facebook page

♦ Sickening: This makes me physically ill. -- Pam Woodley, Kansas City Police public relations specialist

♦ "No reason for this:" This is so stupid. What a dumb reason to pull someone over. There is no reason for this. It's uncalled for. -- Zack Dahl at McKean's page

♦ "Nothing to investigate." Everyone should be able to walk where they want, and if no reasonable suspicion is presented then there is nothing to investigate or stop a person for. -- Andre Washington of Pontiac at The Pontiac Tribune

♦ Try a turnabout: What if people of color just start calling their local police because a white person is in their neighborhood, making them nervous. Let's imagine what the police and dispatcher's response would be. Would they take it seriously? Go ahead. Make the same call. -- Steph Walther at The Pontiac Tribune

♦ "Without just cause:" Brandon McKean should NOT have been stopped at all. The mere fact that he was required to stop and was questioned without just cause is a violation. -- Ivory Rubin, Rancho Cordova, Calif., at The Pontiac Tribune

One of McKean's contacts on Facebook, Anthony Davanzo. has a more restrained view: "You did the right thing and you and the cop had a good head and was cool about it. it was just a shame it happens."

Regrettable, and not necessarily racism recorded on a phone camera.