Panthers' Batiste plays race card

[rosey]

What kind of BS is this?

Associated Press

CHARLOTTE, N.C. -- Carolina Panthers reserve guard D'Anthony Batiste says his recent arrest on a weapons charge may have been racially motivated.

Batiste, a former deputy in Louisiana, was initially charged with carrying a concealed weapon after a search of his car during a traffic stop. Police had stopped Batiste's car, saying his window tint was too dark. On Friday, a Mecklenburg County judge threw out the charges, saying the arrest for a window tint violation was a pretext to search Batiste's car.

Batiste was fined $110 dollars for failing to update his driver's license when he moved to North Carolina last fall.

"When the arrest happened, I called some of my supervisors back in Louisiana," Batiste told The (Rock Hill) Herald after leaving the courtroom Friday. "As soon as I'd explain it, all of them said 'D, something's not right about this.' We're all kind of under the impression I was arrested for driving while black."

Charlotte Mecklenburg Police Department spokeswoman Julie Hill said that Batiste's arrest was not racially motivated. "He received no special treatment in that regard," she said.

Hill said the department has been cracking down on window tint violations because too dark windows block an officer's view of who is inside a car and can put the officer in a dangerous situation.

Batiste was arrested on March 25 when officer Bret Balamucki noticed the windows of Batiste's 2007 Chevrolet Tahoe were so dark "I couldn't see who was inside."

Balamucki said windows are supposed to have at least a 35 percent light transmission and Batiste's windows tested at 8.8 percent. Balamucki said he found the gun -- Batiste's service weapon from his days as a deputy with the Lafayette (La.) Parish Sheriff's Office -- during a search of the car.

Balamucki said Batiste was initially cooperative, but became frustrated and refused to answer questions.

Batiste said the arrest has shaken him.

"Right now, I don't know how I feel about the CMPD," Batiste said. "I feel bad, because this was an embarrassment to me, my family, my teammates and the whole organization, all because an officer was unwilling to show discretion."

Batiste was signed by Carolina off Dallas' practice squad midway through last season, but he did not appear in a game with the Panthers.

Batiste, 25, played at Louisiana-Lafayette before stints playing minor league indoor football and in the Canadian Football League.

He said he hopes to return to police work after his NFL career has ended.

[surfdog]

It's simply BS. Who cares how he feels about the CMPD. If he obeyed the law it wouldn't be an issue. To say he was pulled over because he was black...give me a break. He should know better than that seeing how he's an officer too. What happened to the weapon charge? Funny he thinks its an embarrassment to his family and the team. Maybe he's the embarrassment.

[OnCrime]

The comment that bothered me was "...all because an officer was unwilling to show discretion...." Is he implying he should receive special treatment because he is a football player? He caused embarrassed to himself by breaking the law- not the officer who arrested him nor the police dept.

I am curious to know if the Judge's justification for dismissing his charges is valid. The charges were dismissed because the window tint violation was pretext to the search of the car.

[surfdog]

I guess he feels he should receive special treatment because he's "somebody". He should have been the one to show some discretion. I hope this is being looked into regarding the dismissed weapon charge. It seems the police had justification to pull him over if he violated the tinted window law. Maybe that doesn't aply if you're a pro football player. Wonder who the judge was and also his attorney?

[aloneinmeck]

The best part of this AP article is it just shows the county how ignorant our district court judges are. There are two cases in which the US Supreme Court has said a pretext stop is ok as long as there is an actual crime in which the defendant is being pulled over for. Here we have a window tint violation. The judge in the case has either never heard of, or cannot comprehend US v Whren and Devenpeck.

[carolinacop]

It may just be me, but how exactly did the officer know what color the driver was with 8% light transmission on the window tint? That is so dark you cant see inside in full sunlight. The officer would have had NO IDEA what race the driver was!! I suppose the race card excuses you for carrying a concealed pistol, or maybe it's the celebrity card....

CC

[OnCrime]

Good point carolina cop! Batiste should be ashamed of himself to say race had any part in his arrest. I am so tired of people 'playing the race card' when it's clearly not the case. It is like the boy who cried wolf...

[slappy]

I will first start out by saying good for Mr. Batiste, for serving his community as a deputy. After saying that he should well know that the window tint was illegal here. Most people with basic intelligence and law enforcement training would research laws in the state you live in. Second NC is an open carry state ...if a cop can see the weapon its legal, so he must have had it some were that would have made it "concealed", and without being an active law enforcement officer , or having the CCW class and permit, would in fact make this illegal. So is it really " Driving while black"? or is it the fact that many criminals have dark tinted windows to hide activity or items or behavior that , they wold not want the police to see or know about. So Mr. Batiste, remember that you have law enforcement training and unless you sucked as a cop, and harassed everyone who was not African American, because they were driving while white, or Hispanic , or Asian. You need to drop the race card and get a life. And have a great season

[karz10]

I don't think the race card is necessarily appropriate here either. And yes, as a former LEO, he should know to look up the laws here, etc. However, there may be more to this. A lot of people in this country believe in the constitution and the right to bear arms, particularly former LEOs. Many people can be easily confused with firearm laws from state to state, even a former law enforcement officer.

I used to think the worst every time I heard a news report about an ordinary citizen or celebrity/athlete, etc. catching a weapons charge, it sounds so menacing and immediately implies guit, what were the doing w/ a gun that caused them to be arrested etc? You automatically assume the worst.

I thought this until I looked into the firearm laws and realized how much they varied from state to state. For example, the general rule of thumb is in SC you can not carry a firearm openly or concealed w/out a permit, and if you have one in your vehicle, you need to have it in a closed compartment, such as a console, or glove compartment. However, in NC, you technically can open carry (although general consensus is that it's not a good idea in metro areas like Charlotte) and if you have a gun in your vehicle, it must be in plain sight, and NOT in a console, etc.

You can see that how close we live to the border of SC, could pose challenges to someone in this regard, who is legally keeping a gun in their car on one side of the line, then breaking the law a few miles down the road, unless you move the firearm in or out of the console, which is pretty strange to begin with.

As others have mentioned, and I reiterated avove, you can have a gun in plain sight in the vehicle, however, from what I've heard, people have been getting arrested for concealed weapons charges, even though they had the weapon in plain sight, on the seat, OR EVEN UP ON THE DASH OUT OF REACH, trying to obey that law, but were arrested because they had tinted windows, w/ the claim that the tinted windows concealed the weapon, therefore were charged for concealing the weapon, even though the windshield gave clear view of the firearm, and in some cases I've heard of, other individuals I've spoken with, said they had the windows rolled down when the office approached them and immediately informed them of the weapon, as they should, but still got the concealed weapons charge.

I'm not necessarily defending Batiste, especially for playing the race card, but I'm just pointing out that it's *possible* he wasn't trying to break the concealed weapons law, and didn't realize his tinted windows would hav resulted in that charge. A lot of people like tinted windows, I like them for heat reduction and protection of the interior, keeps the sun out of little one's eyes, security against B&E, and to protect my loved ones from driving around in a fish bowl, giving them some cover from a would be robber or car jacker that may have to think twice about approaching the vehicle if they can't see who or what may be inside, giving my loved ones a moment to keep moving and avoid being a target. If we're ever pulled over, I'd roll down the windows for the officer's comfort and our safety. I have mine tinted to the legal limit at the time they were tinted, BTW.

Keep in mind, they've been letting people get away w/ the darker tints for a LONG TIME, and only recently did they hand out light meters to all the cops, and start a push on the tint violaters, which is fine I guess, but in all likelihood, some of these people aren't trying to break concealed handgun laws if they do have one open on the seat or dash, if they have one in plain sight like that in NC, they're trying to abide by the law, not realizing their couple hundred dollar fine for the dark windows could turn into a concealed weapons charge...

FWIW, I hope that puts some things in perspective for some, and hope that you don't assume everyone w/ a gun has bad intentions. If I was a well paid athlete, I'd want to protect myself too. Hey, I'm no one famous, and I want to protect myself, I can only imagine I'd feel like an open target if I was known to 'have money' like some of these athletes. Again, I'm not buying the race card, I'm just saying that I don't agree w/ some of these procedures or weird laws, and that even someone trying to abide by the big laws, can get trapped by a lesser known or folllowed law and end up catching a bigger charge as a result.

Regards,

Karz

[surfdog]

When the windows are that dark it may be that its considered concealed or just not in plain view. If the police walked up to the car they probably couldn't see it in plain view.

[quint]

Stereotypical Black trait, when in doubt throw it out. Don't ever take accountability for your actions. The whole world is against me because I'm a poor black man. BS!!

[exflacop]

Ok, I have to ask this one. So the windows were dark, a traffic violation. Where is the probable cause for the search? Being an ex LEO, I know 'fishing expeditions' go on, where you do a search on any grounds you can think of, in order to get a percentage of results.

I have only been stopped twice by cops. In Florida, for driving too slowly (in an unfamiliar area after dark looking for a friends house) and was ALMOST searched. The deputy asked for permission, and I said no, so we sat and waited for backup, dogs, the whole deal, until a guy I had worked with recognized my name and radioed to cut me loose. No idea how long I would have been tied up, but I was clean, and he had no legal reason to search.

The second time was here in NC, on a trip- I was in the passenger seat reading a book when the wife stopped on the side of the road to go into a shop. She parked with a foot of the car in the yellow no parking area in a small town, and withing minutes, the town cop was knocking on my window asking me to step out. ( Had FL tags, had JUST moved to NC) He spent 15 minutes in interrogation, and then asked for permission to search. I agreed this time, only for speed to resume our travels, but here again he had no probable cause.

It sounds like this case is similar, a traffic case where a search request was granted, but there was no P-Cause to search in the beginning. Sounds like a bad search was thrown out.