Emotional moment as man hugs Raleigh police captain
RALEIGH (WTVD) -- One Raleigh police officer who attended funerals in Dallas for the slain officers returned home to news of more officers murdered in ambushes. However, he says he's not concentrating on the increased risk.
Raleigh Police Captain Craig Haines told ABC11 he and other officers know that the violence that happened across the county could happen here, but he's more concerned with bridging the gap with some community members who have come to mistrust police.
"We look at this and we realize that there's dangers out there," he said. "The greater concern for us I really believe is bridging that gap."
As Haines was wrapping up his interview and speaking about the need for dialogue with those who have lost trust in police, a man approached.
Quincy Brown hugged the officer and told him he loved and respected him.
"That guy in Dallas and all these other people that's doing what they do, we don't think like that," Brown told Haines.
He added, "Every black person in this world don't think like that. I respect you. I appreciate that you leave your family to come take care of my family to protect me."
But Brown concedes there is strife between police and some in the black community but said it may not be as much as some make it seem.
"At the end of the day, all police officers ain't bad, you know, they just not. There's some really wonderful officers out there," Brown said.
Brown says he has never felt he was pulled over just because he was black.
But he knows that some feel differently.
That includes Bishop Darnell Dixon of the Bible Way Temple in Raleigh.
"It's happened to me several times," Dixon told ABC 11.
Dixon says while he appreciates Brown's sentiment, he isn't likely to show affection to a police officer he doesn't know as Brown did.
"I don't discredit him," said Dixon, "but he don't speak for all black men."
Dixon, however, does agree with Brown that there is a need for improved relations between police and some in the black community.
"We have to understand from their standpoint as well as the police have to understand from the community's standpoint," Brown told ABC 11, "It's that we have to understand each other. And actually it begins with love and understanding."
