The photo has gone viral, positioning the Internet’s magnifying glass over the Indiana native and changing his life over the weekend.
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Barnes’ posting about the conversation that took place and that accompanied the selfie with the as-yet unidentified state trooper has now been shared more than 400,000 times on the social media site.
“Given the important subject named work across the country, I’d be deceitful if i said I wasn’t even some tense at first”, Barnes said.
The lights went off and Barnes pulled over.
What happened next is what both Barnes and Trooper Cosgrove said led up to the selfie. After talking with him for several minutes, Barnes asked Cosgrove if he’d take a selfie with him.
Both the officer and Barnes thanked each other for the respectful interaction and took selfies.
Trooper Cosgrove clocked Barnes doing 71 miles per hour in a 55 miles per hour zone. Cosgrove said he was happy to do it.
“I thought that would be a great moment, especially nowadays when there is tension all around the nation when it comes to policing”, Cosgrove told WISH-TV.
An African-American man’s selfie is going viral after he snapped a picture with a white police officer who had pulled him over for speeding. We can continue to fight against each other until we are literally “black and blue”, or we can show one another the respect we inherently deserve, not as “black man” and “blue police officer”, but as humans.
“Never in my lifetime did I think that this would’ve taken off of the way it has”, he said “It’s actually kind of sad that a cordial interaction between an officer and myself has generated this much interest”.
Both men say it was a simple act that should be common.
Barnes wrote, “I was pulled over today for speeding”.
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“I was raised to show respect to everyone and being an officer of the law or someone or meet on the street, you show respect to get respect back”, Barnes said. Barnes said he was in a hurry to get home from work because his family was moving out of their Muncie home.
