WATCH | Police cuff black man in his own home over false alarm
A video of a black man being cuffed by police in his own home after a false alarm has gone viral.
In the video, which has more than 1.65m views, North Carolina police drew guns and handcuffed an innocent Kazeem Oyeneyin who was wearing nothing but underwear after they said they couldn't immediately confirm he lived there.
“I just talked to the alarm people,” Oyeneyin explained to a policeman after he was told they were responding to the report of a burglar alarm sounding off.
Watch the video below:
This partially naked man was cuffed at gunpoint in his own home over a false trigger of his alarm system pic.twitter.com/XeoUPPN6xX
— NowThis (@nowthisnews) August 28, 2019
According to an ABC News report, Oyeneyin said a friend who was staying with him set off the alarm when he left.
The club owner described the ordeal as the "most humiliating experience of my life".
"I mean, I felt like my character was defamed. I went outside the other day, the neighbours wouldn't even wave at me. They don't know what's going on. They think I'm a whole criminal over here," he told the publication.
The video was shared across social media, with many calling for the officer in question to be fired or prosecuted.
Until minute 3:30 I was having a difficult time with this video, the officer is doing his job and Kazeem Oyeneyin has the right to not be disturbed at his home.
— Emiliano Fernández (@TheIcebergTip) August 28, 2019
But then, in the minute 3:30, another officer shows what was really about.
And people say that there is no more #Racism https://t.co/UpP7h3ZmFq
Kazeem Oyeneyin need to sue the shi* the police officers in North Carolina was way out of order, and get a kick out of humiliating black men this has to stop @ACLU @NCpoliceexecs
— tia boo (@Tmorse94Tia) August 29, 2019
If only Kazeem Oyeneyin was a white man, these white Raleigh NC police wouldve been able to ascertain that he was, in fact, in his own home and nakedly not a threat.......without pulling guns ready to kill him and handcuffing him.
— Jayson (@jaybizball) August 27, 2019
But when they see Black skin:
(#BLM) https://t.co/zn1AaDj6a5