A controversial Pittsburgh-area traffic stop has sparked outrage after a Black man was detained for nearly 45 minutes for allegedly not activating his turn signal.
His ordeal didn’t end until an activist alerted a lawyer who stepped in, causing police to set him free.
Traune West, was driving his car in Homewood, Pennsylvania, about 36 miles from downtown Pittsburgh around 2 p.m. on Jan. 16. As West was nearing an intersection to make a turn, a police cruiser activated its lights.
“I turned my turn signal on, made the left, and he turn his lights on and told me the reason why he stopped me is that I didn’t turn my signal on,” West told KDKA.
Photos and video of the traffic stop went viral on social media, showing West detained in handcuffs. Up to six Pittsburgh police officers converged at the traffic stop location to search West’s vehicle.
A photo depicts a small bud of marijuana about the size of a pea that reportedly was found near the gas pedal prompting an intensive search of his sedan.
“He could have brought that in on the bottom of a shoe. There’s definitely not enough to smoke,” Karen Miller commented on Facebook.
Amber Sloan recorded nearly 15 minutes of the traffic stop on her cellphone as other bystanders converged to the traffic stop location. One woman can be heard yelling, “What did they say they pulled you over for?”
As police continued to search West’s vehicle, Pittsburgh attorney Kate Lovelace, who is white, walks into Sloan’s camera vantage point to speak with West and police. Lovelace has more than 20 years’ experience working with and representing underserved communities, according to her LinkedIn.
Sloan can be heard yelling at Lovelace, “Use your privilege, baby, use your privilege.”
“I said I’m here to represent him,” Lovelace told police.
The officer asked, “What’s his name?”
Lovelace replied by asking West, “What’s your name?”
West said his name aloud and Lovelace asked him if he wanted her to be his lawyer and he said “yes,” Lovelace told KDKA.
Minutes later, police released West from his handcuffs and the vehicle search concluded.
“They absolutely would have arrested him based on that search,” Lovelace said in a comment on the viral video.
Lovelace admitted she didn’t know West prior to the traffic stop. She said local activists alerted her of West’s situation prompting her to rush to the stop location.
West told KDKA, once Lovelace arrived, “everything changed. When she came, she saved the day.”
