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Mike Elk
@MikeElk
, 13 tweets, 5 min read Read on Twitter
Yesterday I saw a black man being searched by undercover cops in the Amtrak station in my hometown of Pittsburgh.

I stopped to record it, identified myself as a journalist, & was threatened w/ arrest for illegal wiretapping unless I erased the recording paydayreport.com/pa-police-thre…
Last night, when I got into Pittsburgh’s Amtrak station, I spotted a black man being cornered by several undercover Pa state police. They immediately began patting him down and searching his stuff paydayreport.com/pa-police-thre…
The man was indignant that he was being searched. As a journalist, my immediate instinct was to begin recording the interaction as a legal evidence in case something happened.

Eventually, they finished searching the man’s bags and released him. paydayreport.com/pa-police-thre…
One of the cops spotted me recording them and came up demanding to see my I.D. I identified myself as a journalist and told them that I felt I was within my rights to record. paydayreport.com/pa-police-thre…
The undercover cop told me that I was illegally wiretapping him and threatened me with arrest. paydayreport.com/pa-police-thre…
He then told me that my breath smelled like alcohol and that when I left the train station that I could be arrested for public intoxication. (My credit card receipts show that I had three Miller Lites on the train). paydayreport.com/pa-police-thre…
He demanded to see my I.D. I had my passport in my back pocket as I had just returned from Portugal. I showed it to the cop and he began to mock me “oh what are you fancy? You have your passport!”

paydayreport.com/pa-police-thre…
He repeated his threat and demanded to see my drivers license. I showed it to him and he said we are gonna check to see if they are any warrants out for your arrest. paydayreport.com/pa-police-thre…
He repeated his threat again and asked me if I was driving or catching a cab. I told him I was taking a lyft and he repeated his threat once again that he thought I appeared drunk & that he could arrest me as soon as I stepped outside of train station for public intoxication.
I informed the officer that I would erase the recording. Three cops crowded around me and watched as I deleted it.

The threats continued even after I erased the recording.

paydayreport.com/pa-police-thre…
Then, I asked for permission to call my Dad if I was being arrested. The cop began mocking me “Oh whose your daddy? Is he some powerful person? Such a tough guy - you gotta call your Daddy”.

paydayreport.com/pa-police-thre…
Finally, I said look “just let me go home and we can forget about all of this”. The cop finally agreed and another cop came up to me and said “Why do you fuck with us? Don’t fuck with us and we won’t fuck with you”.

paydayreport.com/pa-police-thre…
It’s incredible what thugs police can be. I was well within my constitutional rights as a reporter to record them, but they made it clear that if I released the recording of them racially profiling an innocent black man that they would be problems.
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Mike Elk
@MikeElk
Due to underfunding, thousands of mold-infested plywood trailers are used as classrooms in Virginia

Meanwhile, @GovernorVA is proposing to give $750 million to Amazon.

Today's teachers in Richmond are taking off work & taking to the streets to protest

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Schools in Richmond and other counties are closed today because teachers are taking the day off to demand more education funding.

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