An African-American man, who was passenger in a traffic stop, was arrested because he refused to show cops his ID.
Heather Janney, Antoine Wedington’s girlfriend, was driving in Anne Arundel County, Maryland when police pulled them over for speeding.
Janney recorded the incident on her TikTok account. Due to the nature of TikTok, the incident had to be recorded in three videos, as there is a time constraint.
Officers claim that she was going 45 miles-per-hour in a 30 mile-per-hour zone. During the traffic stop police tried requesting Wedington’s ID, but Wedington declined saying that this was a simple traffic ticket and the officers had no reason to force him to provide identification.
Per U.S. Court of Appeals case Stufflebeam v. Harris:
The court concluded that an officer can request ID from a passenger, but if the officer has no reason to contact the passenger regarding any sort of investigation, the passenger is not required to provide identification.
The officers either did not know this or cared, as they placed him under arrest and dragged him out of the car.
In one of the TikTok videos Wedington kisses Janney before he’s forcefully removed from the car. You hear her cry as she videotapes him getting cuffed and taken away.
Wedington was arrested on a warrant for failure to appear in court and a retake warrant from the parole commission. He was also charged with resisting arrest.
In the above video Wedington tells the officers that they took their time with their investigation and asks if he can take his time getting out of his car. The officer responds telling him, “no.”
In a separate video Wedington shows fear for his life telling officers that he is not trying to be slammed on the ground.
In the initial video uploaded to TikTok it is clear that Wedington is attempting to work with officers.
Janney told the press that they’re is lawyering up, according to Fox5.
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