Rapper, actor and businessman Romeo Miller shared a gut-wrenching story about a dangerous police stop that took place near UCLA during an interview on The Mix.
Miller told the show's hosts that he was driving near the California university when he was pulled over by an officer who was holding up a gun as he approached his vehicle.
"In UCLA, you get pulled over there, you better have that camera recording because they don't play no games. The guy pulled me over at gunpoint, a Black cop, and he was like 'Is this a stolen vehicle.' I'm like 'Relax. Just come check my registration and get my driver's license,'" Miller said.
The police officer asked him again whether the vehicle was stolen before he realized who Miller was.
"When he saw it was me, he said 'Oh, Romeo Miller? Oh, you good. I thought you were just some random Black dude.' It's scary for me because my brothers ain't famous. They bigger than me at 6'4," 6'5." These guys are intimidated by Black men," he told the hosts.
He went on to explain that the situation left him terrified because of how often it must happen to Black people who aren't famous and had him wondering about his own brothers.
"I have little brothers that look like grown men and it's like, what are they going to go through if they don't realize, 'Oh I know you from TV, so you're not a threat,'" he said.
"It's sad that we're looked at as a threat because of the color of our skin. But it is real. I've been in that situation too many times," Miller added.
Miller's story comes a few days after another celebrity, Power and Power Book II: Ghost actor Michael Rainey Jr. shared a video on Instagram of a traffic stop that he said could have gone wrong if he was not filming, as Blavity previously reported.
“This guy was about to shoot me I swear that camera saved my life. Look what he does as soon as he looks into the lens. Someone please send me his precinct or whatever if you know. These power-tripping ass police need they badge taken. Unlawful traffic stop,” Rainey Jr. said.
“Didn’t even pull me over. Didn’t tell me what I was being pulled over for. Just came to whip yelling and sh*t with his hand on his gun. This guy also said stop reaching while I was looking for my license, I guess he was tryna come up with a reason to shoot me,” he added.
As Blavity previously reported, Miller was recently in the news for working with his father, Percy Miller, to bring a new supermarket to a community of elderly and disabled people in New Orleans.
