*Jenice Hodge, a Black woman, was delivering food in 2019 when Calvin Pham, a Minneapolis Parks (Minnesota) traffic cop, pulled her over for what she thought was a routine stop. The body camera footage from the incident shows the cop telling the woman that he had pulled her over for not wearing her seatbelt and being on her phone. Hodge, however, clarified to Pham that she had never been pulled over for not wearing a seatbelt, and she was also using her phone’s GPS to make a food delivery.
The officer then asked the woman for her license. Talking to KSTP, Hodge says that she hadn’t even retrieved the license from her purse, and a gun was pointed at her head. In less than a minute after pulling her over, the cop commanded Hodge to step outside her car – which left her confused, scared, and unaware of what to do. Eventually, she chose to raise her arms through the car’s sunroof, but she didn’t leave her car amidst the cop’s threats of ripping her out.
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Finally, she steps out while inquiring while apprehending, but the cop pushes her face to the ground. In Pham’s police incident report, he said he identified a firearm permit in the lady’s wallet, which prompted his reaction. He claimed that the permit to carry weapons made him believe the Hodge may have a gun in his defense. However, Pham never reported seeing any gun in the car but still proceeded to take the extreme reaction. Pham responded that the woman seemed to be reaching for a weapon or concealing something, claiming that the accused denied it.
Hodge was arrested and charged with marijuana possession and obstruction of legal process; charges were dropped when she pleaded guilty to driving with a suspended license. After the case, the woman filed a civil lawsuit against the Minneapolis Park & Recreation Board, which resulted in Pham’s resignation and the $100 000 compensation.
To Hodge, the incident reminded Philando Castile’s death (2016), where he was shot and killed by a traffic cop during a stop. As the story ran through her mind, Hodge felt like she would end up the same way. Valerie Castile, the deceased’s mother, also responded to the body camera footage, saying that all trained law enforcers are trained to deescalate situations. Still, they keep failing over and over again.
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