Tonight I'm doing my late run route, dropping off a few middle school boys of color in a very congested area. As I stop and open the door, which puts out my stop arm and activates my giant red flashing lights, I see a car coming around the corner driven by a middle-aged white woman. She has 5, 6, 7 seconds to stop. She doesn't, and blows through my stop arm.
Funny thing is, I look behind me and there's a white Sedgwick County deputy sitting in his patrol car. It's still plenty light out, and I can see him clearly. He's looking directly at the car which has gone through. Surely, I think, somebody will finally get pulled over! A hundred cars have run through my stop arm this year at various points of my routes, and I've never once seen a cop when I needed him. And here he is, witnessing the whole thing. Surely, I think, justice will be served.
Nope. He watches the car go through, looks away, and then looks back down at his lap. Probably his phone. Maybe his paperwork. And the criminal drives away.
Thanks, Mr. Deputy, you shaved off again a slice of the trust I have in law enforcement. If the driver had been black maybe he would have been right on it, regardless of the traffic violation. If she were Hispanic, I'm sure an ICE agent would have busted in her window and dragged her off to El Salvador. But a white woman? Bah, who cares?
