(Video courtesy of YouTube/NewzFirst)
Former WWE wrestler Shad Gaspard is claiming racial profiling in an incident that occurred just hours prior to Saturday night’s Strikeforce show in Columbus, Ohio. Gaspard was crossing the street with Strikeforce heavyweight Josh Barnett and another friend when an altercation with a motorist prompted police on foot patrol to swoop in to tackle and handcuff the 6’8″ 300-pound Brooklyn, New York native who now lives in Houston, Texas.
In the video above, which was shot by Barnett, a handcuffed Gaspard sprawled out on his stomach on the wet sidewalk can be heard pleading his innocence, inferring that the arrest was motivated by race.
“I didn’t do anything wrong. I didn’t do anything wrong. I didn’t do anything wrong. I wasn’t jaywalking,” Gaspard said. “I was walking on the sidewalk. Is it because I’m big and black?”
When asked by Barnett, “Did you guys see anything violent [from Gaspard]?” witnesses answered resolutely: “No. He didn’t do anything wrong. No. Uh, uh. Nothing.”
In this video shot by another onlooker, Barnett explained what happened.
(Video courtesy of YoutTube/GiovanniJsMommy)
“This guy just wanted to make an arrest. Me and a friend were walking in the street and a car came up behind my buddy and honked at him. They yelled at him through the window and my buddy said, ‘Fuck you!’ to the guy in the car, or whatever,” Barnett recalled. “So then my other friend, who’s now handcuffed, was on the sidewalk walking with us and the cop says, ‘You know people wouldn’t be yelling at you if you weren’t walking in the street.’ Shad goes, ‘Well, there’s plenty of room for these people to go around.’ He starts saying stuff to Shad and they start going at it and this guy starts flexing his muscle and he’s like, ‘Give me your license. I’m going to give you a ticket for jaywalking.’ [Shad's] like, ‘I’m not jaywalking. I’m on the sidewalk.’ Then it just escalated.”
A female witness who seemed disgusted with the display by police said it was an officer who was in the wrong and not Gaspard.
“This could go on the Internet easily. This is wrong. He didn’t do anything. He did nothing. What did they claim, that he spit on ‘em? He didn’t spit on anybody. He did not do nothing. He didn’t do nothing wrong. Hey, you didn’t do nothing wrong. We got it. We got it on video. It’s all on video…The cop did nothing but egg him on the whole time.”
A longtime friend of former Strikeforce light heavyweight champ Muhammed King Mo’ Lawal, Gaspard has a background training in MMA and is rumored to have contemplated competing in the sport following his release from the WWE last year. Gaspard set up a tryout with the WWE for Lawal four years ago, but convinced the up-and-coming fighter to put pro wrestling on the back burner until his MMA career is over. Shad, who signed with MMA legend Antonio Inoki’s Inoki Genome Federation (IGF) wrestling Japanese wrestling organization last month says that he is contemplating legal action for his unfair treatment by Columbus the police. He appeared in Columbus court yesterday, but details of what transpired have yet to emerge.
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commentsMinus a felony.
1. Tell them the truth. If it is minor you get a 50% chance of them being human and relaxing and offering a way out. They rarely want to arrest you for minor bullshit.
2. Be polite. Act aggressive and conversation is over. Act like a fool and they have 50 ways to fuck you back. May not stick but sure as fuck will cost you. In same thought do not assume you know the law. Maybe 10% of all lawyers actually on the spot know the actual law. All cops have a failsafe "screw you back" law in their pocket. P.I. being the norm. Read it in any state, anyone at anytime can get one. Also saying you "know your rights" sounds great in rap and movies, in real life just cost you 5k in legal fees.
3. Tell your idiot friends to quit 'helping' you. They won't. Follow all instructions completely. If you act like a threat you will be treated as one.
No real relevance to the story. I just wanted to say I say Barnett pissed.
@ nickyroose - you say, "...according to the only version of events shown above..." to make your point. But that's the problem. That is a limited version of events that doesn't show what happened, yet you are trying to make your point from that. It is like the Rodney King video, where they only show the 25 seconds of the cops beating him, but they don't show the 20 minutes of that fucker leading them on a dangerous chase and then attacking them in a PCP-induced rage.
@Limfamous--You are obviously a crap ass public defender, who with the facts right in your face still make assumptions. Then you have the nerve to accuse someone else of making assumptions like you didn't just do it yourself. You know, not every case of police vs minorities is a case of racism but if you can't admit that there are many cases out there and that this one does seem to fall in that category then you sir are a bitch and can...Wait for it....Suck my dick. I'm out
Not fucking with you guys, according to the only version of events shown above it was NOT him who was Jaywalking. and Further this is fucking America, you get to say whatever you want to whoever you want with just a couple restrictions codified in the Constitution. There is no "contempt of cop". So while someone may be an asshole for talking shit to someone, they are given that right, regardless if that someone is a cop.
FIGHT WITH A COP? It is readily apparent if he felt that he wanted to fight he had the tools necessary to whip the shit outta that cop.
So much cop love. What other job can you have a high school diploma three months of training and make 140 grand a year. Everyone who ALWAYS sides with COPs or citizens is wrong. Look at the situation and assume everyone in the crowd has gotten together to conspire against the officer. Strangers banding together, for some nefarious purpose get real.
Judge that guy on the ground by his ACTIONs. He did not resist or act out in anyway. Everything he said is constitutionally permitted. No resistance no calling the cops pigs nothing but cooperation.
"In Canada, they call sidewalks streets. But they call streets ham. Go figure."
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OK, I lol'd.
Apologist my ass. You reap what you sow.
I'm no cop, but I certainly feel for how everyone wants to tape them and spin the circumstance, like dumbass chicks fighting the cop. In seattle. I would have still been beating those dumb bitches. Not cuz they are black, because they are that stupid.
Apologist. If some cop accuses you of Jaywalking and you clearly weren't and 9 cops show up and not one is even a woman just 9 white dudes and your in a white city and another black guy crosses the street and the cop thinks it's you because you're black how does that not at least prima facie look like rascism?
Fyi... any sympathy was gone the second the race card came out and his buddy acts like he's got rodney king tape going on. He has 9 min of the police patiently waiting for transport while they continue to act the ass. I'm sure the D.A. will be impressed.
@ Limfamous
Wrong. He wasn't even the one who Jaywalked.
But seriously look how no matter how clear-cut dead in the wrong cops are some fascist jumps out to defend them. EFB wins comment of the hours over Fried T because the better joke was a simple, "Man wrestling is so fake." Viva doesn't win because I had to look it up once I did Brilliance.
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