He was a detective with the KCPD, and he still got pulled over for driving while Black

Herb Robinson has feared for his life twice in his 30-year police career.

One was when he was shot in the line of duty. The other came when he was pulled over last year by two fellow Kansas City police officers.

It was plainly racial profiling, Robinson says. He was in uniform and driving an unmarked police car when the officers pulled him over for nothing on March 11 last year.

And as he confronted the officers, he says he understood better than ever the experience of Black citizens dealing with white police. He worried that if he reached into the car to get his police ID, he might be shot.

“I’m like that deer in the headlights,” Robinson recalled. “My heart’s racing and pounding. I’m like, what are you going to do next?”

Robinson, 59, a detective at the time in the Kansas City Police Department’s violent crimes intelligence squad, was heading to an off-duty job and driving south on Blue Ridge Boulevard, on the outskirts of Kansas City into Raytown.

When he was pulled over, he opened his car door and stepped outside in a blue shirt and navy pants. The two officers ⁠— Cole Modeer, who is white, and Marco Olivas, who is Hispanic ⁠— moved toward him.

“Holy shit,” one of the officers said as he looked at Robinson, a 33-year veteran of the force. “First of all, I don’t know why you’re jumping out like that on us.”

Robinson, who is Black, believed the stop was illegal. He thought that he would not have been pulled over had he been white.

It’s an experience many people of color in Kansas City feel: targeted by the police department meant to serve them. Black drivers are more likely to be stopped by KCPD officers and during those stops, they are more likely to be arrested than white drivers, according to police data compiled by the Missouri Attorney General’s Office.

Dashcam video of Robinson’s stop was obtained by The Star. Shown the footage, civil rights activists, police experts and academics in law and racial profiling said the stop was an outrageous example of a toxic, racist culture in the department.

Black officers say that it’s a problem that has only grown under Police Chief Rick Smith’s tenure.

Robinson’s traffic stop was discovered as part of a year-long investigation into racism in KCPD. More than two dozen current and former Black officers recounted such stories of facing discrimination, harassment and abuse from their colleagues.

KCPD declined to make the officers, Modeer and Olivas, available for comment about the traffic stop. They are assigned to the Patrol Bureau and have been with KCPD since 2018.

“The video was not produced/provided by KCPD as part of a public records request, as such we cannot validate the video nor do we have any response to the video,” Sgt. Jacob Becchina, a KCPD spokesman, said in an email. “We are however aware of the allegations made. The reason for the stop has been investigated. Any further related information cannot be released because it is a closed record under the Missouri Sunshine Law.”

Months after the stop, Robinson said the experience remained troubling. He could not articulate the magnitude of its effect.

“So, I’m that person now,” he added. “I understand the protests. I understand what people are saying. I never imagined on this department I would experience that from my own.”

Before the stop, the officers were in a right turn lane but went straight through the intersection and followed Robinson, driving past a sign that welcomed drivers to Raytown.

After following Robinson for nearly a mile, the officers activated their lights and siren.

Robinson pulled over and stepped out of the car. The officers moved toward him and told him his plates don’t come back to “anything.”

Robinson was driving an unmarked police vehicle. Had the officers checked who owned the Chevy Impala, it would have come back as being owned by the Kansas City Board of Police Commissioners.

“Where are you headed, bro?” one of the officers, who is white, asked Robinson.

“Bro?” responded Robinson, who thought the word was disrespectful. “I’m Detective Robinson.”

“Don’t do that to us,” the white officer said. “Chill the fuck out.”

“I’m in a police uniform,” Robinson can be heard saying.

“I don’t know who you are. You said Detective Robinson?” the officer asked, to which Robinson said he was. “Cool man, alright. Have a good night.”

The officers let Robinson go. They headed back to their car and could be heard calling him a “fucking dumbass” and a “fucking retard.”
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