TOLEDO, Ohio — A violent New Year's Day traffic stop between two Toledo police officers and two women continues to drive conversation about interactions between law enforcement and community members.
The event in question led to an internal affairs investigation and the suspension of the two officers: Adam Hobbs, suspended for 20 days total, 10 without pay; and Ashlyn Pluff, suspended for one day with pay.
The officers' behavior during the traffic stop, the suspensions they received and community fears of being physically harmed during interactions with police drew impassioned responses from Toledo City Council members on Tuesday.
Dash and body camera video of the traffic stop saw Pluff and Hobbs, who are both white, use strong physical force while arresting two women, both of whom are Black, the officers pulled over and accused of reckless driving.
The incident also caught the attention of former police officer Earl Mack, the president of the Toledo Buffalo Soldiers Motorcycle Club, a local organization that preserves the legacy of 19th Century United States regiments of Black soldiers.
Before joining the group, Mack was a 40-year veteran member of law enforcement. He said nothing he saw in the video of the traffic stop resembled proper conduct by the officers.
"We always frown at officers just walking up to a car and yanking them out of it, because that citizen becomes angry and doesn't know what's going on," Mack said.
He said that after watching the footage of the incident, he hopes the mental health of these officers is taken seriously, saying law enforcement officials in control of themselves never fly off the handle the way Hobbs and Pluff did.
"I would recommend some kind of training to keep your emotions in check," Mack said. "These officers go through a lot every day, day in, day out. They see all kinds of things, and they see things that can affect them and their personal lives. So those trainings should include those kinds of things, and have a psychological assessment."
"If those were two young white women this would not have happened," council member Vanice Williams, who is Black, said during Tuesday's meeting.
But Mack, who is also Black, said the incident was not racially motivated.
"Everything isn't labeled racial," Mack said. "Just because the two police officers were white and the two girls were Black doesn't mean it was a racial incident. I think it was an incident of a lack of training and a lack of empathy."
Mack said his biggest concern is: who allowed Pluff and Hobbs, both of whom have been previously reprimanded by the Toledo Police Department, to get to this point?
"Something is wrong," Mack said. "That points right back to the police department, that points right back to the command officers. Who created an atmosphere so comfortable they became this way?"
He said now, he hopes the Toledo Police Department takes notes and learns from the incident, and said that incidents like these hurt TPD Chief Michael Troendle's attempts to build bridges with the community.
"This tears those bridges down," Mack said. "Police officers are from the community, they represent the community -- or they should -- and if you're going to have good community-police relations, again they need to be trained in that."