UNC student files racial complaint with Chapel Hill Police Department

A UNC student who says he was racially profiled when he was stopped by Chapel Hill police near a crime scene in the early hours of Sunday morning met with Police Chief Chris Blue Thursday to discuss the issue.

Junior Cameron Horne, who is black, was stopped while driving down Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard about half an hour after police received a 12:20 a.m. 911 call about a shooting on Ashley Forest Drive. Horne says police stopped him because of his race, and he filed a complaint Sunday morning.

Horne said Blue told him police were simply following procedure by stopping him.

Blue said he has known about the complaint since Sunday, but declined to comment on whether there was an active investigation into the complaint. Blue said personnel information is privileged and did not say whether a formal apology was forthcoming.

“This is going through our normal complaints process,” he said.

A woman who called 911 Sunday morning after her neighbor Christopher Frasure, 41, was shot in an Ashley Forest Road apartment said she saw three white men leaving the premises. She said Frasure, who was alive at the time of her call but who died shortly after, said he knew his assailants.

Horne said he was driving to pick up a friend at the nearby Timber Hollow apartments at about 12:45 a.m. when three or four police cars pulled him over.

Horne said police ordered him out of his car with their loudspeakers and told him to back slowly towards them, and three white, male officers pointed guns at him. Horne said police told him to put his hands on his head, get on his knees and lie facedown on the ground outside his car. At that point, Horne said he was handcuffed by a fourth, white female officer. He said he was then flipped over and asked to produce his wallet and identification.

Horne said he was not informed why he was being stopped.

“I feel like once they saw my student ID, the whole tone of the incident changed,” he said. At that point, he said the officers released him from the handcuffs and put away their weapons. He was then told the reason for his stop. The encounter lasted less than five minutes.

“I wasn’t scared, I was just shocked,” he said.

Horne said the officers told him they were looking for a gold car carrying three black men in the wake of the shooting. Horne said he was in his car, which is blue, alone.

“They said they were stopping everything that moved,” he said.

After the police officers gave him the explanation, he said one of them offered him a handshake and an informal apology.

“He said, ‘Sorry man, but you know that’s how it goes,’” Horne recalled. “I won’t forget that one.”

Horne detailed the incident Sunday in a Facebook note titled “My letter to the Daily Tar Heel.” As of Thursday morning, the note was “liked” nearly 80 times, “shared” 55 times and had 11 comments expressing support.

Horne said the run-in, though not erasing his trust for the police, has made him skeptical. His friends who witnessed the stop, Calisha Allen and Paula Kelly, were more upset.

The pair came outside to help Horne find Kelly’s apartment when they said he hung up. Kelly expressed her disappointment with the way the it had been handled.

“It makes me feel like I can’t trust the police in Chapel Hill,” she said. “I feel like that badge should make you feel like you can trust them.”

The next morning, Horne and Allen went to police station to register complaints. Over the next couple days, he said three officers contacted him about the incident, although they were not the officers who pulled him over. He said the officers explained to him how the incident fell in line with department policy.

Lt. Kevin Gunter, spokesman for the Chapel Hill Police Department, said in an email that civilian complaints are not public record.

Horne said he also emailed UNC and Chapel Hill officials, including Terri Houston, director of recruitment and multicultural affairs. Houston said she received Horne’s email Sunday and met with him that day.

“I was shocked that it happened to one of our students,” she said. She added that Winston Crisp, vice chancellor for student affairs, met with Blue to discuss the incident. She said she was surprised by Sunday’s event, but added that she has heard about an alleged cases of racial profiling in the past.

“It happens too often to our African American, Hispanic and Native American males,” she said. “It’s an unfortunate reality in this nation of ours.”

She said Chancellor Holden Thorp also received the email and instructed other administrators to follow up with Horne to make sure he is okay.

“Our first concern is the student,” she said. She also said she appreciated that Blue was meeting with Horne to discuss the incident.

The pair spoke in the bottom of the Student Union Thursday morning for about 40 minutes.

Horne said said he was seeking a formal apology from the department. He said Blue told him that the officers had been following department policy during the stop, but didn’t say so to diminish Horne’s experience.

“He definitely wasn’t trying to excuse anything I felt,” he said.

Horne said Blue told him that he would attempt to arrange a meeting between the student and the officers who had pulled him over. He said he was glad the chief had met with him despite the lack of an apology.

Contact the City Editor at city@dailytarheel.com.