CONCORD, N.C. (WJZY) – A former NFL player says he was unfairly treated by police and profiled while minding his business at a North Carolina mall.
It took place last week and Victor Hampton says he was putting some items in a car after shopping with a friend.
Before heading back into the mall to watch a movie, he heard the voice of an officer, “The first thing he yelled was ‘yo’ like very loud,” said Hampton. “There were people walking in the same vicinity as us so we didn’t think he was speaking to us, so initially we were kind of confused.”
Concord police were in the parking lot looking at a possible stolen vehicle according to Hampton. The pair kept walking and the officer yelled again, “Yo, ya’ll, stop where are ya’ll going,” Hampton said recounting the event.
Hampton started recording the back and forth after five minutes of the officer following him.
In the video you hear the officer telling the pair why he was following them, “Because you were in the area of a stolen car,” said the officer.
“How many people in the area of a stolen car,” replied Hampton.
The officer asked the couple for ID which they denied, and Hampton said he continued to feel profiled because he didn’t do anything.
“If you do not stop, you’re going to jail,” says the officer in the video. “Take me to jail,” replies Hampton.
Days later Hampton is still wondering why the situation got to that point, “Why are we even suspects of a stolen car? For one, where is the car, who are you looking for sir, he couldn’t tell us who he was looking for.”
The video shows the woman ask the officer about the suspect he is looking for.
“What does the person look like?” asked the woman.
“I don’t know,” replies the officer.
The officer tried to arrest the couple and take the phone from the woman. Concord police released a statement to Nexstar’s Queen City News saying the department would release another statement after an internal review of the incident.
Victor Hampton wants more than a review. He’s having nightmares since the incident, and all he says all he could think of during that altercation was don’t go to the ground.
“I didn’t want to be on the ground with them because I knew, hey we seen George Floyd and what happens on the ground right,” added Hampton. “I’m not going to the ground. I got to a point where I said listen because I don’t want to die today you can cuff me.”
