Packers' WR Greg Jennings alleges racial profiling during test drive

It's about time more people speak out regarding the unfair practice of police men and women pulling over minorities for driving luxury vehicles. It's absolutely heinous that this practice continues in this day and age. Racial profiling reinforces the worst stereotypes in society and denigrates the self-esteem of the innocent victims. Kudos, Greg Jennings!

Football star Greg Jennings said he plans to file a complaint with Kalamazoo police alleging he was racially profiled when he was questioned last weekend on suspicion he was driving a stolen sport-utility vehicle.

Though the vehicle was not stolen, the officer was justified in stopping Jennings because Jennings didn't use his turn signal, Maj. Ken Colby of the Kalamazoo Department of Public Safety said.

Jennings, a former Kalamazoo Central High School and Western Michigan University standout who is now a rookie wide receiver with the Green Bay Packers, said he was approached and questioned by a police officer at about 9:45 p.m. last Friday while test-driving a Hummer from a Vicksburg dealership.

According to Jennings, who is black, officer Eric Shaffer followed him for about "six or seven" blocks before Jennings pulled into the parking lot of Progressive Church of God in Christ at 1527 N. Edwards, where his father, the Rev. Greg Jennings Sr., is the pastor. There, Jennings said, Shaffer approached the car, explaining to him "I have a report of a stolen black Hummer."

"Obviously, I'm on the north end of town, driving a Hummer," Jennings, contacted by phone, said Thursday. "They don't see a lot of Hummers on the North Side (of Kalamazoo)...They're not on the West Side pulling over any black vehicle."

Colby said officers were on the lookout that night for a vehicle reported stolen and described to them at a briefing as a black Hummer.

Authorities later learned that the stolen vehicle was a GMC Envoy, he said.

Jennings' father and the Rev. Joseph Anderson reviewed the police tape of the traffic stop Thursday at public-safety headquarters. A Kalamazoo Gazette reporter also reviewed the tape, which shows Jennings did not use a turn signal as he turned into the parking lot. Jennings said Shaffer didn't mention his failure to signal. "He never mentioned it to me, not once," he said. Jennings turned into the parking lot, he said, because he noticed the patrol car had been behind him for some time.

Jennings said his brother, Cortney, was in the car, as was another friend whom Jennings said he "doesn't want to bring into this" and declined to name.

Jennings was not cited for any violation. He said he plans to file a complaint with KDPS following the Packers' season, which will end Sunday if the team fails to make the National Football League playoffs.

"As of right now, this is not a concern of mine," he said Thursday. "Right now, I can't waste time with whatever this is."

Jennings said, though, that he feels it is important that he pursue the matter.

"This is not a case where who I am is the reason it's a big issue," he said. "I'm doing this as ordinary Greg. I'd still file this complaint (if I wasn't in the NFL)."

Colby, meanwhile, defended the officer's actions. "His attention was drawn to the vehicle because he was told to be on the lookout for a stolen 2005 black Hummer. He's out there doing exactly what we want him to do," Colby said.

Click here to read the original article from Graham Couch and Rex Hall from the Kalamazoo Gazette