Nobody other than maybe Warren Buffett has brought more prestige and cash to Omaha than Terence “Bud” Crawford of late. Bet the local cops wouldn’t pull their guns on Buffett.
After midnight on Sunday, Omaha police pulled over Crawford’s vehicle and, with at least one weapon pointed at the champ’s face, ordered him and all occupants out of the car. “I thought we were getting ready to lose our lives,” Crawford’s security chief, Qasim Shabazz Asad, told Omaha station WOWT-TV. According to Asad, who was sitting in the passenger seat when the encounter began, he and Crawford were handcuffed until the cops checked his license and realized who he was.
Crawford was in his hometown, which he’s stayed loyal to throughout his rise to global stardom at the expense of his own Q rating and bank accounts, to celebrate his birthday and his career-topping win over Saul “Canelo” Alvarez earlier this month. That prize fight was the biggest and most anticipated showdown in the sport in recent years. Crawford was paid a reported $50 million and became the face of boxing and pound-for-pound king while displacing the favored and already legendary Canelo. Crawford, whose career record is now 42-0, is the first boxer in modern times to hold undisputed championships in three separate weight classes.
Omaha has some boxing history: A pair of top heavyweights from boxing’s golden age, siblings Max and Buddy Baer, grew up there. But the Baer brothers left town before achieving ring fame. Crawford has lived in Omaha throughout his run from nobody to immortal. The town tried to say thanks over the weekend. On Saturday afternoon, Crawford attended a parade in his honor, during which Mayor John Ewing gave the champ his second key to the city.
Since the parade took place on Crawford’s 38th birthday, a party for him followed the street festival at Steelhouse, a 3,000-capacity event and concert space located downtown.
Crawford was pulled over by Omaha police blocks away from the venue as the party broke up. A video apparently shot by a passenger in the backseat of the car Crawford was driving was posted on social media. It shows Crawford in the driver’s seat, slowly opening his door while following an officer’s order to “Step out!” An officer standing on the other side of the door appears to be holding a pistol a short distance from Crawford’s head. Crawford blurts out, “I’m not reaching for no gun!” as he starts to exit.
The Omaha Police Department released a statement after the traffic stop, saying that Crawford was pulled over after officers "observed a vehicle driving recklessly.” The statement went on to say that cops drew their guns when “an officer observed a firearm on the driver's side floorboard.”
“For safety, all four occupants were ordered of the vehicle at gunpoint,” said the statement, which was unsigned.
The statement says Crawford and another passenger were “found to be carrying a legal firearm." Crawford was let go after cops looked up his driving license, and that he "was issued a citation for reckless driving."
Emails from Defector to the public information office of Omaha PD regarding the Crawford case have received no response. The PIO’s office was not taking phone calls today, and no voicemail was available.
Asad disputed the account given by police. He said the cops pulled their guns before ever seeing any weapons in Crawford’s vehicle. They only learned Crawford had a firearm because the fighter volunteered that information early in the stop.
“As soon as [Crawford] said he had a firearm, the police officer that was on his side became unhinged,” said Asad, adding that he had his hands up in the car throughout the encounter. “He never saw a firearm anywhere. They didn’t even see a firearm on me because of the way I was positioned in the vehicle.”
Asad, who is founder of an Omaha advocacy group called the Black Agenda Alliance, teaches classes that offer tips to black residents on how to survive encounters with law enforcement. Among the counsel Asad doles out: Be patient during traffic stops, and calmly inform police if you have a weapon. But he said that none of that training helped Crawford on Saturday night.
“There was no reason to have drawn guns on us,” he said. “No matter how prepared you are, no matter how calm you are, if you run into a rogue police officer who wants to escalate, then he’s going to escalate.”
