Singer Erykah Badu had a surprise from Dallas Police New Years Eve, when officers suddenly turned on their lights and pulled her over that night. Badu had no idea what the reason could have been, and it turns out there was no reason. At least, not a legal one. Badu recorded video of the encounter, where she asked, “Why are you pulling me over?” An officer smiled and replied on camera, “Because I wanted to say hi.”
Despite the good-natured intention of the stop, there’s a serious legal issue with the impromptu meet-and-greet. Police are supposed to at least have probable cause that a driver has done something wrong before pulling them over.
“You shouldn’t be using emergency lights and pulling over anybody, using the authority vested in you by the government in order to say hello to someone,” attorney Robert Bianchi told Law&Crime.
Law&Crime legal analyst Julie Rendelman agreed.
“While I do appreciate the viewpoint of those who found the officer’s actions to be ‘endearing,; the actions of a police officer, whose job is to protect the community, using lights to pull someone over in the middle of the night in order to simply say ‘hi’ is clearly an abuse of power,” Rendelman said.
It’s unclear how the officers knew it was Badu in the car prior to the stop, or what–if any–discipline they will face. Law&Crime reached out to the Dallas Police Department for more information, but they did not have a statement on the matter just yet. We will update should they provide more information.
Badu was a good sport about it, posting another video later on defending the cops, saying she wasn’t harassed and didn’t want them to get fired over the incident.
As luck would have it, this wasn’t the last experience Badu would have with police over the holiday weekend. On Monday night, police apprehended a man who allegedly trespassed in the singer’s home. Badu identified the alleged intruder as a stalker from Detroit.