On July 29, 2016, two African Americans were pulled over by a police officer in Halifax, Virginia. The driver and passenger initially looked visibly terrified of the officer while he asked a few questions. All of the sudden, the police officer broke the ice and offered them ice cream, saying that he pulled them over because it is against the law to drive in the heat without ice cream. They cracked up, accepted the ice cream, and appeared to be in relief that they were not pulled over for other reasons such as a ticket.

Despite the humor that the police officer intended, some of the social media audience reacted to this negatively. A few concerns rose because the police officer targeted African Americans. Because they looked as if they were fearing for their life, many people say that the police officer’s choice to target African Americans was ridiculous. Since police brutality is such a sensitive and common topic, pulling over people becomes life threatening. People are terrified when they are pulled over. A very different outcome may have occurred if the police officer targeted an angry driver who was late for work.

Thankfully, the majority of the comments that I have seen pertaining to this event were positive. In many ways, the police officer showed that not all police are out to find fault in everyone. Not all police are out to shoot people. Not all police discriminate. This police officer reveals the humorous side of the serious face (with sunglasses) so that people will know that they can act friendly with police. He was able to mend the broken relationship between the police and the people.

So maybe you might react to this event negatively, and some of you might think that the police did something that lightened the mood. Or maybe some of you might think that the police officer merely wanted social media attention! Either way, the police officer’s intent was positive, and it is a good thing to share after all the news about police brutality.