Dumb Question: If the police have a suspect in custody and you’re concerned about his safety should you interfere?

The question arises as a result of a story from Ali Afshar. Ali was driving down El Camino in the Bay Area and saw an African American man in the custody of four white police officers. From the driver seat of his car he was able to diagnose the suspect on the side of the road with schizophrenia — according to Ali he realized this because African American men are more likely than their white counterparts to deal with this particular condition.

Ali made the brave decision to stop his car — in the middle of El Camino — to see if there was anything he could do to treat the man’s schizophrenia. You see, before he was an engineer at Google, Ali claims that he was a physician in the United Kingdom and that he swore an oath to, “to preserve the health of all humans.” Before Ali was able to begin treatment on the suspect the police ordered him to move his vehicle.

Ali returned to his car, found a legal parking space, and returned to the scene to begin treatment on the suspect. It isn’t clear that Ali’s medical training the in the UK would qualify him to treat someone for schizophrenia and he has confirmed he does not have the appropriate licenses to practice medicine here in the United States. Less clear is just what sort of treatment Ali had planned for the suspect.

The treatment for schizophrenia is usually lifelong and often involves a combination of medications and psychological and social therapy. As Ali approached the police officers he informed them that he was going to determine if the suspect was “okay” the police did not react positively. The police claim that Ali was interfering with their investigation and Ali claims they brutalized him. You can read Ali’s personal account of the incident for yourself.

The reality is that it is ALMOST never appropriate to approach an active crime scene. It certainly isn’t smart or safe.

Imagine the scene from the perspective of the police. Responding to a 911 call reporting a disturbed African-American male assaulting an elderly Asian-American woman the police arrive on the scene, subdue and arrest the suspect, take statements from witnesses and the victim — then all of the sudden a man stops his car in the middle of the road and approaches you and your fellow officers. You’ve got no idea why the man is approaching you, but you can see that his car is blocking traffic and you order him to move his vehicle. He follows your orders, but then he returns a little later aggressively approaching you and your fellow officers once again. You have no idea who this guy is or why he is interfering with your investigation. You have no idea if he is a threat. You ask him for his ID and when he refuses your guard starts to rise. Why isn’t this guy cooperating? The reality is that you’ve got to close out the crime scene as it is interfering with traffic. You need to let the witnesses return to their homes. You need to transport the suspect to the police station. You don’t have time to deal with a strange irate man not following simple orders.

I doubt very seriously that Ali thought he could treat the suspect’s alleged schizophrenia there are the side of the road — instead I suspect he saw four white policemen surrounding an African American man and based on the media’s portrayal of racist white cops he decided he had to act — to save the suspect. After watching the news about police brutality over the past year I can see how one could assume all police officers are “white, ignorant, assholes” to use Ali’s words. The fact is that 99% of police officers are honorable people just trying to do their jobs. It is really important to remember this — by classifying all white police officers as “racists” you are dehumanizing them and whenever we dehumanize a group of people we justify violence and genocide — remember what happened in Dallas.

Ali indicated that he plans on suing the police officers after threatening to “out” them here on Medium by publishing their names. Ali also threatens,

“Every time I see officers surrounding an individual who needs protection, I will interfere. Every fucking time. I will interfere like a middle-eastern mother-in-law.”

No matter whether or not Ali’s story is true — Despite the fact that Ali would have been practicing medicine without a license — I want to make a personal appeal to Ali to NOT interfere with police and their suspects. When you do you take your life in your own hands — risking arrest, injury, and God-forbid death. Ali you’ve got to calm down.

Realize that whenever you see a white police officer, chances are, he’s an honorable, law abiding, person interested in protecting you, your family, and your property. The chances of meeting a racist cop in the Bay Area are about as likely as winning the lottery — someone wins most every week — just never you or anyone you know. Don’t do it Ali. Spend your time on StackOverflow instead…