Summary: A DC cop approaches several high schoolers to break up fight – and it becomes a dance-off.
A female cop in D.C. approached a group of teenagers to break up a fight. But what happened next?
It turned into a dance-off.
Aaliyah Taylor, a 17-year-old senior, walked up to the cop and started playing “Watch Me (Whip/Nae Nae)” on her phone and dancing to it.
Instead of being offended, the officer laughed and told the teenager she could do the Nae Nae better. And then ensued an epic dance off between cop and high school student.
Not only was this adorable (as you can see in the video above), it was also a great example of the community policing that Americans have been protesting for in the past few years. Instead of demonstrating violent or racist police tactics, we see a positive, even funny, interaction between the police and a black teenager.
“Instead of us fighting, she tried to turn it around and make it something fun,” Taylor told the Washington Post. “I never expected cops to be that cool. There are some good cops.”
The officer refused to talk to the Washington Post, saying she didn’t want the story to be about her. She wanted to emphasize that cops interact with citizens like humans every day.
Secretary of the D.C. police union Marinos Marinos told the Post, “We are humans just like everyone else. Everyday we come in contact with thousands of citizens and almost all of them have positive outcomes.”
D.C. Police Chief Cathy Lanier made a statement essentially saying the same thing – that “the viral video today of the First District Officer positively engaging with teens and diffusing the conflict yesterday in a manner that appropriately resolved the call is reflective of the many positive police-community interactions that take place daily in Washington, D.C.”
In fact, D.C. has one of the lowest rates of police brutality in the country, and perhaps that’s because they encourage behavior like this among their officers – instead of using force, police are trained to diffuse high stress situations. Even if it takes a dance-off.
This video is a great example of what the relationship between police and citizens should be. It’s encouraging to know that these things happen, despite a national atmosphere where we hear a lot about excessive force and police brutality.
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