Sixteen-year-old Jeremiah Spearman doesn't have a car. Walking is how he gets places. Twice in ten days, that walk ended in handcuffs. On June 4th, he was tackled to the ground by Battle Creek's Gang Suppression Unit while walking to his aunt's house in his socks. On June 14th, walking home past an Arby's, he was stopped again. "Someone call my mom," he yelled. "This is the second time." No charges were filed either time.

The officer's written report from the second stop claims Jeremiah was wearing a full face covering — one of the details cited to justify the stop. The city's own dashcam footage, obtained separately, appears to show his face uncovered the entire time. That's not a matter of camera angle. It's a specific claim in an official record that the city's own evidence doesn't support.

Police Chief Shannon Bagley has defended both stops as appropriate. Battle Creek's mayor has said he's concerned about the officer's aggressiveness but is deferring to the city's Community Oversight Board, which reviews the case July 8th. A law professor and former Michigan State Police detective has weighed in on the legal standard at play — and why handcuffing someone changes the legal stakes the moment it happens.

This episode also connects Jeremiah's story to Price Lomonte, a Black man stopped this month for simply walking through a wealthy, mostly white Grosse Pointe neighborhood — and what it means that one of them walked away clean while the other ended up on the ground, twice.

00:00 - Disclaimer
01:01 - Introduction
02:34 - The Thesis
04:23 - Opening
07:15 - The Background
11:25 - The Data
14:11 - Personal Thoughts
18:58 - Closing

Afternoon Coffee Break with Darren Watts. Follow the show wherever you listen. Rate and review on Apple Podcasts — thirty seconds, it matters. Number 17 Cult All Time. Number 33 Business News All Time on Goodpods — because of you.