A Police Chief Publicly Humiliated a Black Woman During a Traffic Stop — Three Weeks Later, Federal Court Revealed Who She Really Was
The rain had turned Route 9 into a narrow ribbon of reflected headlights when Young Jenkins saw blue lights behind her rental car.
She checked her speed and moved toward the shoulder beside a closed roadside produce stand.
The dashboard clock read 7:18 p.m.
She had been driving for almost five hours, and her shoulders ached from holding the wheel through a freezing November storm.
There had been no sudden turn, no missed signal, and no reason she could identify for a stop.
She switched off the engine, placed both hands where they could be seen, and waited.
A tall officer approached her window without an umbrella.
His coat displayed four silver stars above the name Sterling.
The chief himself was making traffic stops on a miserable Thursday evening.
That struck Young as unusual, although she did not say so.
He shone his flashlight straight into her face.
“You are a long way from home, aren’t you, girl?” he asked.
Young kept her hands resting on the steering wheel.
“I am traveling for work, officer.”
“Do I look like an officer to you?”
She looked at the insignia and answered evenly.
“You are the police chief.”
“Then show some respect.”
Young gave him her license and the rental agreement she had placed in the visor that morning.
His light moved over her business blouse, her overnight bag, and the cardboard coffee cup in the console.
“What sort of work brings you to Crestwood?”
“Meetings in the area.
”
“With whom?”
“I can provide the purpose of my travel if it becomes relevant to a lawful investigation.”
He stared at her, apparently offended by the precise answer.
A second patrol vehicle pulled behind his cruiser.
A young officer stepped out and hurried across the shoulder.
Sterling waved him closer.
“Hayes, watch how we handle someone who thinks she can talk her way through everything.”
The rookie’s face tightened.
Young watched him glance at the rain pouring off the patrol car’s roof.
“Ma’am, please step out,” Sterling said.
“Can you tell me the reason for the stop?”
“I don’t need to explain the obvious.”
“I would appreciate knowing the alleged violation.”
Sterling opened the door himself.
Young stepped into the cold without resisting.
He directed her to a patch of grass beside the road.
Passing tires threw water onto her trousers.
He searched the rental car while Hayes stood at the rear bumper.
Young watched Sterling remove her overnight case and set it on the wet ground.
He opened her clothes bag, shook out folded shirts, and dropped her shoes into the mud.
“There is no contraband in my luggage,” she told him.
“Did I ask for your prediction?”
He removed her travel folder from the passenger seat and examined its plain cover.
The folder held an itinerary, a personal notebook, and two restaurant receipts.
He looked disappointed when nothing more interesting appeared.
“Maybe the rental company should know how you treat its car,” he said.
Young did not respond.
There was a reason she had learned to save words for the right moment.
When she worked as a trial attorney early in her career, a supervisor had told her that silence could preserve facts more reliably than an argument in the street.
She had never imagined having to apply that advice while her socks filled with rainwater.
Hayes shifted toward the open suitcase.
“Chief, we have checked the registration,” he said.
“It comes back valid.”
Sterling ignored him.
He made Young wait while he returned to his cruiser twice.
A passing truck sounded its horn.
Sterling waved at the driver as though the roadside humiliation were an ordinary community event.
After forty-five minutes, he pushed her documents toward her.
“You’re a nobody,” he said.
“Pick up your trash and get out of my sight.”
Young bent to retrieve her clothes.
Mud had soaked the lining of her bag.
One shoe had rolled beneath the car, and she had to kneel to reach it.
Hayes moved forward to help.
Sterling snapped his fingers.
“Leave it.”
The rookie stopped.
Young stood, her coat dripping.
“Have a good night, Chief Sterling,” she said.
“I’m sure we’ll see each other again.”
Sterling laughed.
He was still laughing when she drove away.
