A day after it was announced that the Tulsa Police Department had terminated a contract with ‘Live PD’, a Tulsa man featured on a recent episode says he was profiled on the show.
Randy Wallace, who was paid $40 to appear on ‘Live PD’, says he’s never been affiliated with any gangs or had any violent convictions, but he says Tulsa Police Sergeant Sean Larkin targeted him during the filming of the show.
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“Basically, he profiled me as a gang member,” Wallace said Wednesday at a news conference alongside ‘We The People Oklahoma’. “I have never been convicted of any gang (affiliation). I have never been convicted of any violent crimes.”
A video of Wallace’s encounter with Larkin recently went viral as proof that the Tulsa Police Department is racially profiling but that video in question had been edited. We placed the entire video below that shows the encounter and subsequent comments by Sergeant Larkin describing his arrest and criminal history including being a “certified gang member.”
According to Larkin in the video and broadcast on ‘Live PD’, Wallace had been arrested “a total of 52 times” in Tulsa.
Tulsa Police Chief Chuck Jordan responded to the press conference by ‘We The People’.
“The entire encounter between Wallace and Sgt. Larkin was grossly misrepresented. The encounter was a casual contact initiated by Larkin who did not exhibit an aggressive enforcement style posture and in fact remained seated in his vehicle. His only statement to the individuals by a car with the trunk open was “What’s in the trunk guys?” The other individual with Wallace chose to walk away as Wallace could have also done. He was in no way detained and was free to leave. Once Wallace went into his rant, Larkin attempted to deescalate the situation to no avail and ultimately ended the encounter and drove away.”
Chief Jordan said that there “were no indications of racial bias” during the encounter.
This latest allegation of police racism is yet another example of hurting and damaging those that truly are wanting to reform police practices. False allegations and misrepresentations do so much harm to those that truly have been victims of police misconduct.
One comment on facebook sums it up: “…Check his criminal record. I’m glad to see police keeping an eye on known criminals.”
It is ironic, that those that claim to stand up for those bullied by law enforcement, are doing the exact same thing to law enforcement. The city of Tulsa had more homicides in 2016 (82) than any year in history and they boasted a 92% solve rate. A large number of those homicides occurred in the area that Sergeant Sean Larkin and his Gang Unit patrols and up to half of the city’s homicides are gang related.
A 92% solve rate in homicides is unheard of so the way we see it, the Tulsa Police Department is doing something right. If you don’t believe us, view the video, in it’s entirety, below and see how a professional police officer acts as they encounter an irate citizen.
It is unfortunate that organizations such as ‘We The People Oklahoma’ have yet to discuss the 82 homicides in 2016 and the 10 so far in 2017. Many of those victims are minorities and as it stands today, the only ones that seem to care about stopping this senseless violence is the Tulsa Police Department.
