By Jeremy Lybarger
On March 12, Brian Storm uploaded an 11-minute video to YouTube that shows the SFPD detaining, handcuffing, and searching a group of young, African American men filming a rap video in Hunters Point. The video has sparked outrage online as viewers question both the SFPD’s motivation and the arguably heavy-handed crackdown on men who say they did nothing wrong.
According to PINAC, a blog of citizen journalism that exposes police abuses, Brian Storm is a 29-year-old film student who was shooting his friends’ rap video in Hunters Point. Approximately 30 seconds into filming, several officers arrived and forced the men to put their hands up and get on their knees. “We’re shooting a video,” a man can be heard yelling to the police. Nonetheless, the men were handcuffed, searched, and lined up against a wall where they were then interrogated.
Storm told PINAC that officers took cellphone photos of the men, and that one cop even searched the images on Storm’s camera.
As commenters on YouTube point out, the police refer to the men as “bodies” and “homeboy” (which, to be fair, may be standard when referring to white detainees as well).
The video’s audio quality isn’t crystal, but between 8:30 and 8:50 minutes, an officer appears to question one of the detainees about gang activity and guns. The handcuffed man dismisses the questions and states that nobody there is carrying a gun.
Whatever the reason for the SFPD’s involvement, the video has already triggered backlash online. In 2012, The Bay Citizen reported that black San Franciscans are seven times more likely to be arrested than their white counterparts, despite comprising only six percent of the city’s population. Supervisor Malia Cohen requested more patrol officers to help curb criminal activity in her district, which includes Bayview-Hunters Point. The SFPD states it does not engage in racial profiling as a matter of agency policy.
The men were released within an hour but were never told why they had been detained.
The Bold Italic has reached out to both Brian Storm and the SFPD for comment. The story will be updated as it develops.
Update: SFPD officer Albie Esparza sent the following email to The Bold Italic: “On Sunday, March 8, 2015, The SFPD responded to a call of a group of adults at the playground. When the officers arrived, they were informed they were making a rap video. The officers left. At around 5pm, officers continued to patrol the area of the playground when they observed a black male with a black hoodie. The male had a gun in his hand and racked a round into the chamber. The male then put the gun into his waistband. The male then walked into the crowd where the group was making the video. The officers fearing the male might use the gun on someone in the crowd, the officers ordered the male in the hoodie out of the crowd and placed him under arrest. He was arrested for being a felon carrying a concealed loaded firearm. As officers responded to the scene, the group of men were all detained for officer safety reasons. The men were released after a short time. Another male was subsequently arrested for narcotics possession for sales. The detention for this whole incident was for a man with a gun…NOT for making a rap video.”
h/t PINAC; photo courtesy of Brian Storm/YouTube
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