Bucks guard Sterling Brown is hoping to improve law enforcement practices used during stops and arrests in order to avoid incidents like the one he encountered last year.
“I have a platform now and I’m going to use it to help bring awareness and help bring change,” Brown said Friday, via the Associated Press.
It was just over 13 months ago when police used a stun gun on Brown in the parking lot of a Walgreens in Milwaukee. Now, he emphasizes he has moved on from the interaction, citing basketball for keeping his focus elsewhere.
“I’ve been emotionally, spiritually, physically stable since the incident happened,” Brown said. "At the end of the day, I’m a professional and I’ve got a job to do and I’ve got to handle my business. There’s no sympathy if I’m down and out and complaining about it. It’s just next man up. I’ve got a profession that requires me to display it at all times. That really is what helped me just keep things flowing.”
Brown spoke on the same day the Bucks and Kings hosted a summit bringing awareness to social injustice ahead of their Saturday matchup. The summit also focused on improving communication and relations between law enforcement, community leaders and citizens after Sacramento was stunned by the fatal shooting of Stephon Clark, an unarmed black man.
Brown, who is in his second season with the Eastern Conference-leading Bucks, also acknowledged his relationship with police will likely never be the same after his encounter.
“It’s what they do that gives the trust, so if they’re not responding accordingly to how they’re supposed to and according to the Constitution – they’re not doing things constitutionally – then you wouldn’t even be able to trust them,” Brown said. “If you were in my situation, you wouldn’t come out trusting them, and they violated your rights.”
The incident occurred on Jan. 26, 2018, when Brown made what he expected to be a brief stop at a local Walgreens. He parked in a handicap space. He then talked with officers while waiting for a citation outside of the store around 2 a.m. when officers took him down because he didn’t immediately remove his hands from his pockets as ordered. An officer yelled: “Taser! Taser! Taser!"
Police later released body-camera footage that showed the interaction.
