Another day, another questionable police activity, and this time around, in New York City. It appears the cop in question got anxious about a mere bulge in a person’s clothes. Hence, he called his cop buddy for a stop and frisk of a random man who was just walking. Apparently, the cops found it suspicious that the New York man had a bulge in his clothes, specifically around his waist. Here’s the clip of the alleged “illegal search”:
It’s not clear who the civilian was, but he managed to record and upload the alleged incident via an Instagram user account named culture.20. The NYPD officers abruptly frisked the New York man even though he didn’t consent to the search, explicitly saying, “I’m not allowing you to touch me” and “You can’t touch me like that,” even during and after the search.
The NYPD officer who initiated the stop and frisk was identified as Jean Santiago. Apparently, Officer Santiago noticed something suspicious about the random New York man who was just walking on the sidewalk and supposedly had a bulge in his jacket’s pocket, hence the stop and frisk. The cop even further explained why he did it:
“When you were walking, you kept looking back at the car, and looked like you grabbed over here [pocket], and as I started talking to you– trying to approach you, you immediately [said], ‘Yo, you can’t do this,’ right?
That makes me… then I asked you what the bulge is, what the bugle is? And you said, ‘You can’t check me,’ I was just– literally I just grabbed it [grabs pocket]… Because I can check, because there’s a bulge,” explains Officer Jean Santiago
Of course, there was nothing, and the bulge was just a mere fold on the New York man’s jacket. Officer Santiago then kept pressing that what he did was legal, implying that the probable cause was the suspicious bulge in the civilian’s pocket. Thankfully, the situation didn’t escalate, mainly because the cops found out that the bulge was just air and harmless, empty space. Still, the New York man was audibly irritated at the NYPD cops’ behavior and how they ignored his discomfort and lack of express consent for a search.
People Online Were Suggesting Legal Action
While no injuries were sustained during the incident, the sudden frisking, as well as what the New York man stated as an “illegal search,” enraged online viewers nonetheless. Many were asking whether the New York civilian had reported Officer Santiago, but some also argued that it would be a messy case.
“Cops can’t touch pedestrians without probable cause. Seeing a bulge is NOT reasonable suspicion,” suggests alphars159
“please tell me you reported them,” says chocollate_thunder
“report to who? His buddy? Internal affairs found no fault, just an experienced officer,” argues thatonecookguy
Of course, some people managed to make fun of the NYPD cop who got a little jumpy and eager upon seeing a bulge on a person whom they’re possibly profiling. Meanwhile, the Instagram page that uploaded the video suggested that cops were trained for this, especially the part where they mentioned and blamed bulges in people’s clothes.
“As someone whoโs sat and listened to a lot of court cases Iโll be the one to tell you NYPD is trained to say this. Itโs always ‘the suspect went to touch their waist’, ‘the suspect kept watching us and we saw a bulge in his pocket.’ Or ‘the suspect fit the description’. Stop being fooled. Illegal search and seizure is illegal search and seizureโฆ” according to culture.20
“NYPD loves grabbing bulges. They get excited about it,” jokes kimlienkendall
“No such thing as a good cop. But who is this lil buddy apprehending? Who is this lil dude chasing down? ๐,” asks __ru.ben
