That “respect deficit” with black drivers emerged early—during the first five seconds of a stop, before the driver even had a chance to speak—and persisted throughout the course of the interaction. That’s in line with what happened during my traffic stop in Boston well over two decades ago. And our research showed that black police officers were just as likely as white officers to exhibit less respect to black drivers. The drivers’ race trumped the officers’ race. In fact, the officer who pulled me over and arrested me in Boston was black.
