Spring Break
Second Year Student Detained in Case of "Mistaken Identity"
Allen Narcisse, Editor In Chief
Issue date: 2/24/03 Section: News
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Over Martin Luther King Jr. weekend, on Saturday January 18th, while attending a McKinsey Consulting Business conference in Dallas, Texas, Matt Turner (OC), Section President and a Captain in the U.S. Air Force Reserves was detained and questioned for over an hour by local police; in a confusing, bewildering, and humiliating course of events, Turner, an African American, was held in handcuffs as a suspect of a crime that witnesses reported was committed by four white males.
While walking near a main highway to call some friends from MIT Turner heard a car accident. Shortly after passing the car accident, Turner noticed that he was suddenly blanketed by a blinding police search light shining from a low flying police helicopter.
"I knew at that point to continue walking toward the payphone, and not to do anything suspicious at all," said Turner.
In the following moments, a speeding police car approached Turner, stopping within ten yards of him.
"The next thing I knew, officers jumped out of the car and were screaming for me to put my hands up. Being that this was the third time in my life I had been falsely accosted by police officers. I ran through the "mental checklist" of the "to do and not to dos" at these opening seconds of intense fear, confusion and uncertainty. First thing: I knew to let them get over their adrenaline rush before asking any questions."
With his hands in the air, the officers forced Turner on to the hood of the police cruiser and handcuffed him. Turner then directed the officers to look in his back pants pocket for his military and other identification.
"I told them that I was a Captain in the Air Force Reserves and a student at the Harvard Business School. I told them that I was in Dallas on a business conference and that I probably didn't match the profile that they were looking for."
While still in the same exact position while handcuffed Turner asked the officers why he had been detained. The officers told him that he was identified as a crime suspect. When Turner asked the officers about the description of the suspect, the officers said they didn't have a description but that he had been identified by the police helicopter as a suspect, which led to the arrest.
While walking near a main highway to call some friends from MIT Turner heard a car accident. Shortly after passing the car accident, Turner noticed that he was suddenly blanketed by a blinding police search light shining from a low flying police helicopter.
"I knew at that point to continue walking toward the payphone, and not to do anything suspicious at all," said Turner.
In the following moments, a speeding police car approached Turner, stopping within ten yards of him.
"The next thing I knew, officers jumped out of the car and were screaming for me to put my hands up. Being that this was the third time in my life I had been falsely accosted by police officers. I ran through the "mental checklist" of the "to do and not to dos" at these opening seconds of intense fear, confusion and uncertainty. First thing: I knew to let them get over their adrenaline rush before asking any questions."
With his hands in the air, the officers forced Turner on to the hood of the police cruiser and handcuffed him. Turner then directed the officers to look in his back pants pocket for his military and other identification.
"I told them that I was a Captain in the Air Force Reserves and a student at the Harvard Business School. I told them that I was in Dallas on a business conference and that I probably didn't match the profile that they were looking for."
While still in the same exact position while handcuffed Turner asked the officers why he had been detained. The officers told him that he was identified as a crime suspect. When Turner asked the officers about the description of the suspect, the officers said they didn't have a description but that he had been identified by the police helicopter as a suspect, which led to the arrest.
