Black man is asked to prove his disability by a New Jersey cop at his own apartment complex. Then the encounter turns violent: ‘Why you grabbing me’
Sometimes being noticed is where the trouble begins
A traffic stop should come with a clear reason. But when police start asking about a hoodie, a handicap placard, and whether someone lives in his own neighborhood, that reason can become harder to understand.
New Jersey resident Jamaal M. Holmes says that happened after police spotted him sitting in his car at his apartment complex. According to Atlanta Black Star, officers later followed and stopped him, questioning his clothing and whether he lived there.
The encounter ended with Holmes being arrested. Police later pointed to an expired inspection sticker as the reason for the stop, raising questions familiar to Black drivers who wonder why police targeted their cars.
“Wearing a sweatshirt in 80-degree weather”
Holmes, 34, said the June 2 encounter began while he was sitting in his car and talking on the phone in the parking lot of The Mews, his Jackson Township apartment complex. Police officers reportedly drove past him, and Holmes later left the complex. He claimed police followed him for more than three miles before pulling him over.
Holmes recorded the stop and asked why police had stopped him. One officer, who spoke with Holmes during the encounter, explained that Holmes seemed to be reaching down and hiding his face when police first passed him. The officer also pointed to Holmes “wearing a sweatshirt in 80-degree weather.”
Then the officer brought up the handicap placard hanging in Holmes’ vehicle. He explained that people at The Mews had complained about others using handicap parking spaces and asked whether Holmes had documentation for the placard.
Holmes immediately challenged that reasoning. “Was I parked in a handicap spot?” he asked. The officer replied, “No, I was just wondering if you have any documentation of that. I’m just telling you everything.”
The questions did not stop there. The officer asked, “Is that where you live? You live in the Mews? You live there?” For Holmes, the exchange meant being questioned about whether he belonged at his own apartment complex, something other Black residents have faced where they live.
Holmes handed over his driver’s license and paperwork while asking for the officer’s badge number and to speak to a supervisor. When the officer told him to step out of the car, Holmes refused to do so until a supervisor arrived. “I know my rights,” he said.
The encounter quickly escalated when the officer made Holmes exit the vehicle and placed him under arrest. “Bro, yo! Now you just broke my f—ing door handle, bro,” Holmes told the officer as he continued asking for a supervisor. “Yo, why you grabbing me, bro? Why you ripping my papers?”
Holmes later described what he claims happened after his recording stopped. “When my phone stops recording, they are slamming me up against my car, twisting my arms and crushing my back, that has screws and rods from a spinal fusion just 2 years ago,” he wrote on Instagram. Holmes also said he requested medical attention at the police station.
Police later identified an expired inspection sticker as the reason Holmes had been pulled over. Court records reviewed by News12 reportedly confirmed that he received a ticket for the violation. However, that explanation became a key point of contention because Holmes’ video shows the officer initially discussing other reasons for his interest in Holmes.
Holmes was charged with obstruction of the law and resisting arrest. He has denied committing a crime and alleges that the encounter was an act of racial profiling.
Jackson Township Police Chief Mary Nelson announced on June 7 that the department had opened an internal investigation after the footage spread online. Holmes later appeared in court on July 16, where his attorney, Joseph Champagne, said the case was delayed because police had yet to turn over bodycam footage.
“Mr. Holmes asked a basic question: Why was he being stopped?” Champagne said. “A basic question deserves a basic answer.”
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