WASHINGTON — A Redskins player cited for speeding claims racial profiling lead to the traffic stop in Ashburn, Virginia — an allegation denied by the Loudoun County Sheriff’s Office.
“Wanted to pull somebody over — cause what? I’m black; I got tattoos on my neck and I’m out here in a nice car,” defensive back Su’a Cravens, 22, said in a video uploaded to Twitter. In the profanity-laced post, Cravens said he would sue the officer who pulled him over for racial profiling.
The traffic stop happened Nov. 29 as part of the School Awareness & Firm Enforcement (S.A.F.E.) Traffic Safety Initiative near the Farmwell Middle School according to the sheriff’s office. The office said it has received no complaints related to the incident.
Cravens was given tickets for going 35 mph in a 25 mph school zone and for illegal window tinting.
“This traffic stop was not a case of racial profiling,” the sheriff’s office said in a statement.
Cravens said officers claimed they smelled marijuana in his car, handcuffed him and put him in the back of a police cruiser while they searched his car.
“The driver was detained for officer safety for a short period of time after he repeatedly failed to comply with the deputy’s commands regarding staying in his vehicle and removing his hands from his pockets,” the sheriff’s office said in the statement.
In one of the videos Cravens posted from the traffic stop, he said he was cited for driving four miles over the speed limit. “Said I was doing 39 in a 35,” Cravens said.
Gloucester Parkway is a 35 mph zone in the general area, but at the spot where police were conducting traffic enforcement at the entrance to the middle school, “School Zone” traffic signs of 25 mph include flashing lights. A sheriff’s office spokeswoman said the infraction occurred during afternoon school hours.
Cravens has not played in 2017. Before the season, the Redskins placed the second-year safety on the reserve/left squad list, ending his season before it started.
“We sincerely hope that Su’a uses this time away from the club to reflect upon whether or not he’d like to resume his career in the National Football League in 2018,” the team said in a September statement.
Earlier this month, Cravens received medical clearance to resume all football activities after suffering from the effects of a concussion, according to his agent, Fadde Mihail. It’s unclear whether Cravens will rejoin the Redskins next season.
Cravens is due in court Jan. 26.
The video is below. It contains explicit language:
This is footage once I was released from squad car and was ALLOWED to reach for my phone. Please excuse my language . I promise my parents raised an intelligent and respectful young man. But this bullshit the reason why people dying and athletes taking knees ! Stop ignoring it pic.twitter.com/rlGctp6mJp
— Suzy (@Sua_Cravens) December 18, 2017
WTOP’s George Wallace contributed to this report.
