Pontiac Man Gathers Social Media Support After Filming Police Stop While Walking With His Hands In His Pockets

By Christy Strawser, CBS Detroit
PONTIAC (CBS Detroit) The cop is white, the young man he stops on the street is black, and the weapons they used against each other were unusual.

They faced off with cell phones.

Brandon McKean posted an iPhone video to his Facebook timeline showing what happened when he was stopped by an Oakland County Sheriff's deputy on the street in Pontiac, after someone apparently called police and asked them to check him out because there had been robberies in the area.

McKean was stopped while walking with his hands in his pockets on a cold winter's day in suburban metro Detroit.

As he busily calls into dispatch, the cop first tells McKean he's being stopped for "walking by."

"Walking by and doing what?" McKean asks the deputy.

The cop tells him he's "making people nervous."

McKean continues to pepper the cop with questions about what he's doing wrong, and the deputy says: "you have your hands in your pockets."

McKean points out that it's snowing outside.

"There's 10,000 people in Pontiac right now with their hands in their pockets," McKean adds.

The exchange is mostly pleasant on both sides, and McKean tells the cop he's "mad at the situation," adding the stop was outrageous considering what's going on across the country.

He seems to be indirectly referencing the situation in Ferguson, Mo., where a black teen was shot and killed by a white police officer.

In this case, no one was injured and the Oakland County Sheriff's Department, led by Sheriff Michael Bouchard, posted this on their Facebook page:

"The 911 call received by the Oakland County Dispatch Center originated from a nearby business that had been a victim, as well as its employees, of seven robberies. The caller and his employees were concerned about the individual who had walked by the front window of the business five or six times, while looking inside with his hands in his pockets. Fearing for their safety, the business dialed 911 and the Deputy responded. In the unedited version of the event, the individual stated that if he had called the police on a suspicious person, he would expect the police to respond, check the area, and talk to the suspicious person being called about. The Deputy did not detain or pat down the individual and considering the nature of the call responded in a very restrained and professional manner."

On the sheriff's department's Facebook page, this was also written, "Often times, individuals share things without knowing the facts and in some cases promote a specific agenda unrelated to the reality of the situation. Shocking that the internet does not tell the full picture or people use this for an agenda-right?"

Since then, McKean has gathered hundreds of messages of support on social media, with many saying they respect the way he handled the situation.