A young, African-American Arizona veteran praised the Tucson Police Department and challenged anti-police sentiment in a Facebook post on Tuesday, and the story has now gone viral.
Steven Hildreth Jr. said in the post that he was recently pulled over for having a tail light out, a story
verified by KTLA-TV and the police department.
He explained that he treated the officers that approached his vehicle with respect, adding that, not only did they hit it off, but one officer also complimented the permitted gun he was carrying.
"The officer explains for his safety and mine, he needs to disarm me for the stop," Hildreth Jr. wrote in the post. "I understand, and I unlock the vehicle. I explain that I'm running a 7TS ALS holster but from the angle, the second officer can't unholster it. Lead officer asks me to step out, and I do so slowly. Officer relieves me of my Glock and compliments the X300U I'm running on it. He also sees my military ID and I tell him I'm with the National Guard."
After running his license, the officers returned Hildreth's possessions, and let him go without a ticket, telling him to get the tail light fixed.
"I'm a black man wearing a hoodie and strapped. According to certain social movements, I shouldn't be alive right now because the police are allegedly out to kill minorities," Hildreth Jr. wrote, likely alluding to the Black Lives Matter movement.
"Maybe . . . just maybe . . . that notion is bunk. Maybe if you treat police officers with respect, they will do the same to you. Police officers are people, too. By far and large, most are good people and they're not out to get you."
Hildreth then used the popular #BlueLivesMatter and #AllLivesMatter hashtags, which have been used in response to the #BlackLivesMatter movement, which many view as anti-police.
"We talk so much about the bad apples who shouldn't be wearing a badge. I'd like to spread the word about an example of men who earned their badges and exemplify what that badge stands for," Hildreth concluded.
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