Black Student Athlete Says Navarro College Cop Racially Profiled Him

One day in March 2020, Michael Police was not far from his off-campus apartment, sharing a Black n’ Mild cigar with a friend, when a Navarro College Department of Public Safety cop pulled up.

Police now plays football for the University of West Florida, but at the time, he was on Navarro’s team in Corsicana, about an hour southeast of Dallas. Black n’ Milds contain only tobacco, but officer David Arnett wanted to search Police and his friend.

“I didn’t get it, because we weren’t doing anything suspicious or that we weren’t supposed to be doing. I kept the Black n’ Mild in my hand,” Police said.

Arnett searched Police and his friend. In Police’s pocket he found a clear plastic tube from a CBD cigarette Police bought the day before. (CBD cigarettes are legal and widely available in gas stations, convenience stores and smoke shops across Texas.)

“So, he opened the tube and smelled it, then asked me what it was, and I told him it was from the CBD cigarette,” Police explained. Then, Arnett took Police and his friend to a nearby building, stood them against a wall and searched them for about five minutes, Police told the Observer.

“After he didn’t find anything, he asked me what dorm I stay in, and I told him. He asked me, ‘Can I check your room?’ I told him no, so he decided he would call the housing director,” Police explained.

Police said Arnett called a Navarro College housing administrator to gain access to Police’s apartment. Arnett claimed he was conducting a health and safety check, according to Ray Hindieh, Police’s attorney.

Body-camera footage shows that later that day, Arnett, who did not have a warrant, conducted an exhaustive search of the apartment. “He was checking in drawers, under mattresses, he even checked my soap containers,” Police said.

“Where’s it at, man? You got it hidden in here somewhere,” Arnett says in the video.

Eventually, Arnett says, “Here, you go. Rolling papers, baggy.”

Michael Police was charged with possession of drug paraphernalia. He’s now accusing Arnett and the Navarro College Police Department of racial profiling.

This wasn’t his first run-in with Officer Arnett, Police said.

Months earlier, one of Police’s teammates’ cell phones went missing. Police got a call from his coach, asking him to come to his office for a meeting. When he arrived, he found himself alone in the coach’s office with Arnett, who interrogated Police about the missing cell phone.

Police told Arnett he didn’t know anything about the missing cell phone. Arnett accused him of lying, Police recalled.

The college declined to comment.

“What’s so sad about this is that a lot of these kids have not only possible but probable NFL careers,” Hindieh said. “They get kicked out of school for these tiny little infractions, and sometimes the officers have reason to search for contraband, but they certainly didn’t in our case.”