A misdemeanor charge was dropped against a black man who was arrested last week for walking home on a street during a Texas snowstorm.
Rodney Reese, 18, was arrested on February 16 in Plano and accused of being a pedestrian on the highway, media reports said.
Police said police officers received a call about a black man seen stumbling in the middle of a snow-covered street wearing a short-sleeved shirt and were sent to do a welfare check.
Police posted images of the body of the body of the meeting on Facebook on Friday. In the video, the police are seen following Reese and repeatedly asking where he is going and if he is doing well, to which he replies that he is doing well and is coming home.
Reese told KDFW-TV that he was coming home from his job at Walmart and didn’t stop to call the cops because he didn’t need their help.
The police continued to follow Reese for about two minutes before stopping him, telling him that they were “conducting an investigation” and informing him that he was being detained.
Reese answered “no” and kept walking, but was interrupted again. In the video, a brief fight is seen when the police try to handcuff Reese, who can be heard asking to be released.
According to the Facebook post, the police officer who arrested noted that Reese resisted arrest, but chose not to accuse him.
Plano police chief Ed Drain told KDFW-TV that the charge was dropped because the arrest was not consistent with why the police were called in to investigate.
“They should have taken him home, that’s where he should have gone,” said Drain.
Drain supported his officers, saying that at the time of their arrest they did not know Reese’s age, where he worked or where he lived.
Drain also said he did not believe race was a factor in prison, but added that “it can’t get into people’s heads.”
Reese said he believed the call that brought the police to the scene and his subsequent arrest was based on the color of his skin.