Thousands Share Stop-And-Frisk Horror Tales As #MyBloombergStory

NEW YORK CITY — A subway cop tells Kam Tambini he has drugs in his bag, slams him against a wall, searches his bag and finds nothing. Cara Reedy watches cops pat down a construction worker in front of his wife and children on her Bed-Stuy block because he was holding a table saw. A teenaged Andrew J. Padilla walks with his friends toward Riverside Park when he suddenly realizes a cop behind him has pulled out his weapon.

"An officer drew a gun at our backs without even saying 'police,'" Padilla wrote on Twitter. "We all knew one wrong move, and we could be killed."

These are New Yorkers' memories of stop-and-frisk or, as they call them, #MyBloombergStory.

This most recent political hashtag to go viral on Twitter was prompted by Benjamin Dixon, the progressive podcaster who uncovered audio of former New York City mayor — and current presidential candidate — Michael Bloomberg suggesting one could “just Xerox” descriptions of young men of color when looking for criminals.

"I'm seriously concerned about an oligarch lying-in-wait to purchase our democracy while every other candidate is in the field doing the work," Dixon told his followers on Feb. 12.

"If you or anyone else you know has been a victim of Bloomberg’s stop and frisk policy, record a video of your story, tweet it with the hashtag #MyBloombergStory."

Tens of thousands of New Yorkers have since responded with stories, videos and news clips detailing the since-abandoned NYPD policy that defined policing under Bloomberg's 12-year reign as New York City mayor from 2002 to 2013.

Among them is an artist who said three cops searched her on the George Washington Bridge and chased her away when they found nothing illegal among her watercolors, a 16-year-old late for curfew who was searched by cops who bruised his face and laughed at him for being poor.

"Not first or last time," @sulliedsubjects wrote.

Bloomberg was a staunch supporter of stop-and-frisk — which gave police officers the right to search anyone suspected of a crime and — even as evidence mounted that people of color were unfairly targeted and the policy was ruled unconstitutional in 2013.

In the controversial 2015 interview, which Dixon shared on the eve of the New Hampshire debates, Bloomberg can be heard saying, “Ninety-five percent of your murders — murderers and murder victims — fit one M.O. You can just take the description, Xerox it and pass it out to all the cops."

Bloomberg adds, “They are male minorities, 16 to 25. That’s true in New York. That’s true in virtually every city.”

While the Democratic presidential candidate apologized for supporting stop-and-frisk in November 2019, saying "I was wrong," his apologies fell short with New Yorkers who remembered the effect it had on their lives and those of their families and friends.

As Padilla wrote, "All those POC that Bloomberg had Stopped and Frisked? (Those that are still with us) ... Are older...wiser...and will fight tooth and nail to make sure Bloomberg NEVER sees the presidency. ... And there are a lot of us..."