Brickbats

Brickbat: Color Blind

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Two West Chester, Ohio, police officers have received warnings after an investigation found they violated a department policy against the unjustifiable stopping and questioning of citizens. Police Chief Joel Herzog said officers Tim Mintkenbaugh and Tanner Csendes knew the shoplifting suspect they were looking for when they entered a local store was a white man wearing a dark green or gray coat. They stopped Eric Lindsay, a black man wearing an orange coat. Bodycam video showed Mintkenbaugh say  "It doesn't look anything like him" when Csendes pointed Lindsay out. Still, they approached him. As they did, a dispatcher told them the suspect was in a different part of the store. But they confronted Lindsay, saying loss prevention had accused him of hiding objects in his coat. Finally, they appeared to hear a dispatcher again say that the suspect was in another part of the store and left.