12/9/2013 – Houston, TX — Houston police placed a white teen in protective custody simply because she was in the company of two black adult males according to published reports – while no official excuse ‘reason’ has been given, JohnTV speculates that racial profiling and human trafficking hysteria most likely the cause.
Landry Thompson, 13, had traveled from her home in Tulsa, Oklahoma to Planet Funk Academy in Houston for dance classes and to participate in a music video.
Below is the most recently music video choreographed by Hurd (pretty damn good if you ask us)….
Landry was being chaperoned by her 29-year-old dance instructor, Emmanuel Hurd (YouTube Channel), and her dance partner, 22-year-old Josiah Kelly.
Landry is white and her two male companions are black.
After a long day of rehearsals, the trio was parked in a gas station parking lot at 3 a.m. taking a brief nap before proceeding on to their hotel room.
According to Thompson, he was woken up by the police officer forcing him out of his vehicle and placing him and Kelly in handcuffs.
Landry was reportedly separated from her two friends without being told what they had done or what laws they may have broken.
A police officer called Landry’s mother, Destiny, and reportedly stated, “Are you aware your daughter is with two black men?” When Destiny told the officer she was very aware of whom she gave her daughter permission to travel with, she claims the officer began questioning her ability to parent.
Destiny had apparently done more than simply give her daughter permission – in fact, the mother had provided the adult dance instructor with a notarized letter of permission and guardianship, a copy of her health insurance card, an original copy of her daughter’s birth certificate and a list of emergency contact numbers.
All of that, and direct communication with Landry’s parents, apparently fell on deaf ears with Houston PD.
Landry, who is homeschool and often travels for dance classes and competitions, was taken into protective custody and transferred into the custody of local Child Protective Services despite Landry, her mother’s and Hurd’s pleas in opposition.
Landry’s parents were later told they would have to drive to Houston before Landry could be released.
Hurd and Kelly followed officials to the CPS center but were told they were not allowed in the reception area and had to wait in their vehicle for six hours until Landry was released without explanation and without an apology.
In a statement, the Houston Police Department defended the actions of their officers, claiming they had exercised appropriate ‘caution’.
It read: ‘Given the age discrepancies…and the child had no relatives in the area, officers in an abundance of caution, did their utmost to ensure her safety and sent her to CPS.’
Hurd and Kelly are considering taking legal action.
JohnTV knows that many people will give Houston PD a pass because they themselves question the decision of Landry’s parents to allow their 13-year-old to travel out-of-state and overnight with two adult males not related to her.
Regardless, giving Houston PD a pass serves only to ignore the reality that these officers, at the very least, engaged in reprehensible racial profiling, and most likely suspected Hurd and Kelly of being pimps, despite the evidence to the contrary.
Hurd publicly posted the following to his Facebook page on Dec. 5;
Throughout all this…I’ve had time to reflect. Reflect on the pain and humiliation we experienced….But… It’s just made me think about others a lot more. Other people’s pain. Everybody’s saying I’m a great guy…Thank you…but I’m not perfect. Im just like everyone else. We’ve all made a lot of mistakes. If I’ve ever hurt anyone’s feelings or done anything to make you question my character I apologize. I really do.
All of this begs the question, “why did trained police officers react in this manner?”
JohnTV thinks the answer is simple – a combination of racial profiling combined with human trafficking hysteria.
JohnTV doesn’t consider racial (or most any other) profiling a bad thing. Profiles exist for a reason and law enforcement cannot ignore the facts that often lead to profiling – which often lead to justifiable arrests and criminal charges. That said, it appears ‘suspicious activity’ based on racial profiling (older black men with a white female juvenile in a gas station parking lot early around 3 a.m.) resulted in the officers developing tunnel vision and ignoring every other fact that should have told them nothing illegal was going on.
Human trafficking hysteria is very common in the U.S. and in many circumstances is perpetuated by the very groups that are supposed to be exposing the reality of such crimes – but most often use scare tactics and unsubstantiated statistics to try and make their point.
A good example of a group spreading ‘awareness’ while miss-representing a tiny reality of human trafficking in the U.S. is behind the following PSA…
JohnTV will continue to follow this case.
In 2004, in a somewhat similar case locally, Oklahoma City police officer Cecil Moss came upon a mixed race couple in a car near Reno and Meridan. Officer Moss, took it upon himself to call the wife of the black male he had detained with a white female and reportedly left the following voicemail message, “I don’t know if Michael (Michol) Willis is your husband or not, but that’s what he says and, uh, he was with a prostitute over here at Reno and, uh, Meridian. … I thought you might want to know about that. I’d think that would put him in more trouble than me taking him to jail.”
All allegations of prostitution were dropped by prosecutors and the arrested couple hired an attorney and sued the City of Oklahoma City.
The city reached an out-of-court monetary settlement with the couple.
Officer Moss has a pattern of similar deplorable behavior, but remains on the OKC police department.
Below is a video, shot by JohnTV in 2002, of two white Oklahoma City police officers violently confronting a black man with a white female prostitute.