It started with a simple Facebook update from my friend, Rolando Poet Ortiz, who tagged me in the following photo of his wrists after he got handcuffed by a Fontana, California police officer last Friday as he was waiting in a parking lot minding his own business.
The posts from his friends were that of shock and anger. Yeah, Rolando was mad too, wouldn’t you be if you were mistaken for another person and unjustly cuffed? So, I reached out to him this weekend and let him share with us what happened. We recorded the conversation and you can hear it here below. You decide for yourself. I have my own opinions, and Rolando, who has worked his tail off after being incarcerated ten years go, is a role model to us all, a strong Latino who didn’t lose his cool under what appears to have been a very tense and ugly situation.
My friend Rolando with Edward James Olmos
Wow. What an account! I was right there in that parking lot. Sometimes good cop/bad cop exposes wrongdoing on the side of the law! What stands out is Rolando’s amazing self-possession throughout, and even in his narrative after the fact: very deliberate, reasonable, dialed-down.
Thanks for posting, Julio.
Rolando has worked so hard to make a better life for himself. He speaks about his past with pride as well as his future. I think his coolness in this situation was amazing.