Local police chief says he was racially profiled by officers in Alton, Illinois

only on news 4 the chief of police for pagedale is taking shots at another local police department he's accusing them of mishandling an incident last month chief eddie simmons says he feels officers profiled him while responding to a reckless driving complaint this all began when he says a driver followed him while he was heading to alton news 4's ashley lincoln is talking to the pagedale police chief and hearing from alton pd ashley well corey alton police say their officers treated this incident like they would any other they're saying simmons wanted special treatment while simmons says even with proof that he was law enforcement he still feels he was profiled they treated me like a common criminal because i told him i said you know one thing a white person can call and say a black man did something and leave those are strong comments coming from pagedow police chief eddie simmons regarding a december interaction with the alton illinois police department i showed him my badge which he didn't even look at that don't mean give me your driver's license the incident captured on both police dash camera and simmons facebook live stems from a reckless driving allegation simmons says started in st louis county 367 and lindbergh while driving in his police truck on 367 simmons who was off duty says he was headed to his barber shop in alton there was a green jeep and everybody was going around it he was in the fast lane and everybody's passing on the right and i don't like passing on the right because it's dangerous so i tooted my horn off my truck he still didn't move so i went on around the guy he says the driver of the jeep then followed him for 10 miles to his barber shop pull over pull that soy sauce truck or pull over it was the driver of the jeep who called 9-1-1 telling police that simmons had been speeding and was driving recklessly that driver left before police arrived when police got there simmons says alton pd questioned him on whether he was an officer after showing them his badge and id how come you're not finding out why he left why he's not here they told me it wasn't relevant i reached out to alton police with simmons concerns that he was questioned based off the color of his skin the alton police department strongly denying those claims and they say simmons wanted special treatment and you get here and acting like i did something wrong the department conducted an investigation after this incident in this three-page report it does state witnesses saw a white man being belligerent with simmons leaving before police arrived however alton police saying none of the officers violated policy or protocol they say it's standard for them to question a subject even when the 9-1-1 caller leaves the scene and that officers were doing their due diligence in further questioning simmons i did absolutely nothing wrong and simmons did file a formal complaint on this issue alton police determined his complaint was unfounded in the control room ashley lincoln news 4.

Channel: KMOV St. Louis

Views: 1,207,814

Keywords: feedvideo, pagedale, police, chief, racially, profiled, alton, officers

Id: PtmiL6JFTXQ

Length: 3min 2sec (182 seconds)

Published: Wed Jan 06 2021