HAMPTON, Va. (WAVY) – Hampton police admit they made a mistake last month when they pulled over and held a Phoebus High School teacher at gunpoint in front of his students and colleagues.
Jeffery Smith, a math teacher and pastor, was approaching the school around 7:45 a.m. on Feb. 14 when he was pulled over by police – but he didn’t know why.
“When I stopped there, he said ‘Throw the keys out of your car!’ So I threw the keys out of my car. And then he said ‘Get out of the car,’” Smith recounted.
“I looked at him and he said ‘Don’t look at me.’ He had his gun drawn, he had it pointed directly at me and I looked up and saw his eyes, that’s what frightened me more than anything else. His eyes,” Smith added.
They accused him of driving a stolen car and did not immediately check his license or registration, leading to a heated interaction, Smith said.
“I took everything off, I took off my jacket, so he could see I had nothing to conceal. By the time I put my hands in the air, I start walking backwards and I start walking backwards to him, once I got far back enough they handcuffed me,” Smith said.
Eventually, the officers checked his license and registration and admitted their mistake. By that point, some of Smith’s colleagues and students had witnessed the interaction.
Hampton police told WAVY-TV that in cases when officers stop stolen vehicles, the stop is conducted as “high risk” and the protocol is for the driver to be given verbal commands.
Police Chief Mark Talbot initially agreed to sit down with WAVY-TV for an interview about what happened, but after canceling, instead sent us a written statement.
“As a man who is intensely committed to justice and fairness, I feel this concern deep inside of me. When I found out about what happened to Mr. Smith, I visited him and his family at their home. A supervisor that Mr. Smith knows well accompanied me to meet with the Smith family. We listened to Mr. Smith describe what happened to him and how it made him feel. Most of the police work that we do in the City of Hampton reflects our best, but as humans we occasionally miss that mark. This incident highlights some opportunities for improvement, and we will take all the appropriate steps to ensure that this doesn’t happen again. This incident is still under investigation.”
While the entire incident last only about 15 minutes, Smith, who said he has started receiving counseling for what happened, feels that it will stay with him for the rest of his life.
“I had the sense that if I did anything wrong and anything out of the way, I might not be here today,” he said. “It might have been the end of me that day, and that’s what got me.”
The Smith family has retained a lawyer.
“We believe that our civil rights were violated,” said Lillie Smith, Jeffery’s wife. “We’re simply wanting a wrong to be righted, and we want to come to the truth of what happened.”
It’s the second public mistake in recent weeks for the Hampton Police Division.
On Feb. 14, the same day that Jeffery Smith was pulled over, Police Chief Mark Talbot announced that an internal review found that a Hampton police officer did not follow proper protocol when questioning Cory Bigsby, the father of missing 4-year-old Codi Bigsby.
The officer denied Bigsby a lawyer during questioning about his son’s disappearance.
The chief said that during a “heated” back-and-forth with the lead detective on the case, Bigsby mentioned legal counsel twice.
He wasn’t given a lawyer until his family hired one for him, days later, after he was charged with seven counts of child neglect.
According to Talbot, Bigsby should have been provided a lawyer once that mention of counsel took place.
“His desires should have been honored, they weren’t,” Talbot said.
The chief removed the lead detective and put the detective on leave.
The Smith family said they were told the detective who held his gun on Smith was put on desk duty after the incident. The police said because the incident is still under investigation, they could not confirm that detail.