A Pennsylvania police officer stopped a Black teenager in Williamsport after saying his hooded jacket looked “suspicious,” according to a video shared this week by the teen’s father.
The video, filmed by the teenager on his phone, shows him walking down a residential street as an off-duty officer wearing a police vest and shorts approaches him from behind. The officer questions why he is wearing a jacket on a warm day.
In the video, the officer says, “It’s a warm day to be wearing that jacket. You’re gonna get hit by a car here.” He then repeatedly tells the teen to stop, saying, “I’m asking you to stop. I’m asking you to stop. I’m doing a traffic stop on you. You walked across the road in front of a car.”
The teen keeps walking while recording himself. He responds only a few times as the officer follows him. Near the end of the video, the officer is seen placing his hand on the back of the teen’s hood and neck.
The teen’s father, identified on Instagram as Jessie Lopez, said his son was later handcuffed and detained because he did not stop and answer the officer’s questions.
In an Instagram post shared with the video, Lopez wrote that his son “had his first encounter with the police in Williamsport.” He said officers told his son he “looked suspicious because he had his hood up and a jacket on.”
Lopez said the incident, while difficult, became a teaching moment about how to interact with police.
Internet Reacts to Pennsylvania Police Stop
Reactions to the video have been largely critical of the officer’s actions. “*expletive* have nothing better to do than to harass citizens minding their business. ‘Looks suspicious’ is racist code for blacks i don’t think belongs here, because I’m conditioned to think they are all suspects,” one commenter wrote.
Another made a similar point: “At this point, it’s fair to say that they exist to harass Black people and frame them for crimes.” A third questioned the legal basis for the stop entirely: “Cop needs reasonable suspicion of criminal conduct to detain him. Wearing a hoodie on a warm day isn’t enough.”
Others focused on the practical absurdity of the officer’s reasoning. “It’s his *expletive* JACKET if he wants to wear the hood on his head that’s why it’s there on the jacket more over how is there a traffic stop while walking?” one person asked. A different commenter offered a more skeptical take: “If its that warm ouside, why the hell is he wearing that jacket? Does he have a weapon hidden underneath that jacket. It doesnt matter what race a person is, if its hot out then you dont need to be wearing a jacket. Come the fuck on, use a little common sense.”
It is unclear from the available video what led the Pennsylvania officer to approach the teen. As of this writing, neither the Williamsport Bureau of Police nor the officer involved has publicly responded to the video.
