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Speaker 1: Welcome to the NFL Legends Podcast, an NFL podcast for

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Speaker 1: the players, by the players. Here's your host, fourteen year

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Speaker 1: NFL veteran and Hall of Famer Anius Williams. Hello, Welcome

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Speaker 1: to the NFL Legends Podcast. I'm a Nius Williams. Today

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Speaker 1: we present another chapter of our Storyteller series, a chance

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Speaker 1: for NFL players and legends to tell their own story

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Speaker 1: from their unique point of view so that we can

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Speaker 1: all listen and learn from their experiences. Today's story comes

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Speaker 1: from Hall of Fame running back Curtis Martin. Let's listen together. Hey,

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Speaker 1: this is Curtis Martin, and here's my story. So there's

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Speaker 1: a house in a very well to do neighborhood that

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Speaker 1: is close to where we live now. We have been

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Speaker 1: exploring the possibility of moving there throughout the summer. I'm

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Speaker 1: coming back from the city one night, and it's probably

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Speaker 1: quarter to nine pm, and I decide I want to

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Speaker 1: ride by this house just to see what it's like,

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Speaker 1: because I didn't remember there being a lot of street flights,

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Speaker 1: and I wanted to see if it was too dark.

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Speaker 1: And I'm considering that my daughters will be coming home

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Speaker 1: when they're in high school and it will be a

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Speaker 1: little late. So I just wanted to get a feel

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Speaker 1: for how dark it is at night, and you know,

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Speaker 1: just some of the surrounding circumstances. So I ride up there,

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Speaker 1: and as I ride up there, there's a black SUV

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Speaker 1: that's actually riding towards me. And then when I ride

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Speaker 1: past the suv, I see the suv pull over. And

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Speaker 1: this is a a dead end streets. So I ride down

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Speaker 1: the street and I get to the end of the

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Speaker 1: quota sack and I turned around and I'm come mean

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Speaker 1: back and both ways, I just took a brief look

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Speaker 1: at the house, so I right right by. It didn't

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Speaker 1: stop at all. I get maybe a block away from

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Speaker 1: my home and I see the police lights come on,

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Speaker 1: the siren come on behind me. I pulled over and

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Speaker 1: a guy gets out of the sub in comes over

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Speaker 1: to me and he says, man, see your license and registration?

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Speaker 1: And I says to him, uh, yes, officer, UM, can

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Speaker 1: I just ask why you pulled me over? And he

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Speaker 1: says to me, can I see your license and registration?

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Speaker 1: I said, listen, I have no problem showing you my

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Speaker 1: license and registration. I would just like to understand why

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Speaker 1: you're pulling me over. I don't think I did anything wrong,

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Speaker 1: and if I did, I would just like to know

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Speaker 1: what it was. And he raises his voice and says,

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Speaker 1: can I see your license and registration? And I paused

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Speaker 1: for a second, and I you know, there was a

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Speaker 1: part of me that said, you know, Curtis, just give him,

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Speaker 1: just give him your license and registration and get it

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Speaker 1: over with. But there was another part of me. And

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Speaker 1: this is at the height of all the racial tension

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Speaker 1: between police officers and you know, young bike males or

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Speaker 1: black males or whatever it may be. So, you know,

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Speaker 1: I just said, an officer, you know, I'm just having

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Speaker 1: a hard time just understanding why you're pulling me over

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Speaker 1: for no reason. And he looks at me and he says,

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Speaker 1: are we really going to do this? I see that,

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Speaker 1: you know, his tension, you know, And he didn't pull

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Speaker 1: out his gun or anything, but he has his hand

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Speaker 1: like on his hip. I'm looking at us. Said, well,

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Speaker 1: I don't know what this is, officer, but I just

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Speaker 1: don't understand why you can't tell me what I did

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Speaker 1: wrong if I did anything wrong, because I don't think

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Speaker 1: I did anything wrong. I just think you're pulling me over.

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Speaker 1: For no reason at all. He says to me, well,

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Speaker 1: you look suspicious, and I said, okay, um, I just

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Speaker 1: didn't know that you could just pull people over for

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Speaker 1: looking suspicious. I didn't do anything. And he says, are

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Speaker 1: we going to do this? Are are we really going

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Speaker 1: to do this? And he says it again, and I said,

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Speaker 1: you know what, officer, listen, because at this point I'm

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Speaker 1: just like ticked off, you know, And so I said,

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Speaker 1: you know what, officer, listen, I'm going to give you

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Speaker 1: my license and just we'll get it over with, all right.

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Speaker 1: And I went to reach for my license, and I

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Speaker 1: realized the intensity of the moment, and considering what else

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Speaker 1: has gone on previously in the news, with all the

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Speaker 1: other shootings, I went to like reach into my glove

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Speaker 1: compartment really fast. But for that split second, it gave

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Speaker 1: me this feeling of threat that I previously didn't feel

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Speaker 1: other times that I had been pulled over with the

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Speaker 1: racial tension and everything that had been going on. For that,

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Speaker 1: for that very moment, I literally got scared. And so

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Speaker 1: I put my hands back on my staring well and

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Speaker 1: I said, look, said you want my license, I'm going

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Speaker 1: to give you my license. Don't shoot me. He says fine,

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Speaker 1: and I reach over, I get my license and registration.

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Speaker 1: I give it to him. He goes to his car,

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Speaker 1: and I'm watching him through my rear view Mira. He

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Speaker 1: looks down at my license and registration, and I guess

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Speaker 1: he realizes that it was me, and I see him

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Speaker 1: like put his head back, like, oh my gosh. And

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Speaker 1: he gets right out of the car and he comes

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Speaker 1: back to my car window and he says he has

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Speaker 1: me my license and registration. And he says, listen, um,

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Speaker 1: no harm, no file, and he gives me my license

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Speaker 1: and registration back. Now, in that situation, I was literally

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Speaker 1: a block away from my house. I'm a very introspective

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Speaker 1: type of person, and I really looked at this whole situation.

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Speaker 1: The first thought was to jump to the conclusion that

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Speaker 1: it was racial profiling, or he was just doing it

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Speaker 1: because I was a black male, or whatever it may

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Speaker 1: have been. But I I thought about it a little

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Speaker 1: beyond that, and I said, you know what, regardless of

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Speaker 1: what his motivation was or is, I have a responsibility.

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Speaker 1: You know, I have a responsibility to make it home.

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Speaker 1: I literally can see my house from where this officer

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Speaker 1: has me stopped at, and I thought to myself, like,

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Speaker 1: how horrible would it be for something to happen while

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Speaker 1: I'm this close to home and all I had to

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Speaker 1: do was do what he said, whether I felt like

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Speaker 1: it was right wrong, orn't different, and I could have

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Speaker 1: made it home versus ending up handcuffed or arrested or

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Speaker 1: in jail or possibly shot. And at the end of

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Speaker 1: the day, for me, it made me think about how

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Speaker 1: this relationship between those who are being pulled over and

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Speaker 1: the police officers, how some things are fair and some

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Speaker 1: things are unfair, but regardless, I think that there's a

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Speaker 1: responsibility on both sides. My responsibility was to do what

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Speaker 1: was best for me and my family, which was making home.

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Speaker 1: I don't know exactly what the police officer was driven by,

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Speaker 1: but my goal was, you know what, let me just

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Speaker 1: make it home. I know that that situation very easily

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Speaker 1: could have escalated into something that I would probably be

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Speaker 1: regretting right now that I didn't just give him my

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Speaker 1: license and registration. At the end of the day, I

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Speaker 1: wasn't going to change that law or that right for

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Speaker 1: him as a police officer to ask for my license

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Speaker 1: and registration. Had I let my temper or my dislike

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Speaker 1: for what I felt like he was doing to get

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Speaker 1: the better of me. Again, a lot of things could

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Speaker 1: be different in my life right now today. You know what,

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Speaker 1: if you want to fight, if you want to fight

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Speaker 1: for your rights, because you know that this situation isn't

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Speaker 1: right at that moment, it may not be the right

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Speaker 1: time to do it. Even though I didn't think the

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Speaker 1: situation was fair, I didn't automatically just judge him as

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Speaker 1: prejudice or anything. So I decided, you know what, let

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Speaker 1: me just reach out to him, because I think the

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Speaker 1: problem is that there's a misunderstanding on both sides. Someone

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Speaker 1: who is in my situation. Your natural inclination is this

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Speaker 1: is racial profiling or this is unfair. But you don't

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Speaker 1: know what that police officer has been through or what

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Speaker 1: his experience is. You know, maybe he pulled someone over

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Speaker 1: and they shot at him or something. You just never

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Speaker 1: know what type of circumstances other people are dealing with.

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Speaker 1: So for me, I wanted to reach out to him

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Speaker 1: and just start a conversation. After I came here to

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Speaker 1: the NFL and we were talking about this topic, it

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Speaker 1: motivated me more to just get in touch with him

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Speaker 1: and see if to see if he and I could

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Speaker 1: have a conversation about exactly what happened and why it happened.

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Speaker 1: At the end of the day, I wanted to see

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Speaker 1: and try to understand what was in this officer's mind

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Speaker 1: when he pulled me over and why he said what

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Speaker 1: he said. I mean, when he said you look suspicious.

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Speaker 1: I think the inclination that that is almost like a

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Speaker 1: racial comment because I'm a young black man in a

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Speaker 1: nice neighborhood. But I wanted to go beyond that. I'm

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Speaker 1: the type of guy who I don't like to assume

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Speaker 1: what someone is thinking. I just actually wanted to ask him.

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Speaker 1: I wanted to get to know the guy, to see

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Speaker 1: what type of person he was. I did come out

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Speaker 1: of it feeling better. I understood after he explained to

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Speaker 1: me what his concern was and how rare it is

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Speaker 1: for someone to just drive up on that street who

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Speaker 1: doesn't live there and just turn around and drive out.

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Speaker 1: Whether it was legitimate or not, that was his story,

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Speaker 1: and you can't win against that, And for me, it

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Speaker 1: wasn't even about that. My win was in making it

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Speaker 1: home to my family and eventually reaching out to him

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Speaker 1: and giddy his perspective because one of the things that

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Speaker 1: I think is really lacking in this whole dynamic is

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Speaker 1: an understanding of both sides. He doesn't understand that when

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Speaker 1: he pulled me over and told me I look suspicious.

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Speaker 1: In my mind, I know I gotta do everything right

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Speaker 1: so I don't get shot right. But in his mind,

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Speaker 1: you know, who knows what's going on? And I think

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Speaker 1: it's just an air when we assume uh so much

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Speaker 1: without getting the facts. So I just think the conversations

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Speaker 1: need to be had. For me, the overall lesson is

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Speaker 1: that I think we all have a responsibility. I have

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Speaker 1: a responsibility as a man, as a father, as a

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Speaker 1: husband to do us right, not only for myself but

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Speaker 1: for my family, And in my opinion, what was right

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Speaker 1: that day was to just do whatever I needed to

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Speaker 1: do to make it that extra block to get home

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Speaker 1: without cost to me or my family any type of pain.

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Speaker 1: You know. I think for that officer, his responsibility is

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Speaker 1: just to do what's right, and I think the lines

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Speaker 1: are blurred on what is right because one of the

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Speaker 1: things that I've learned is that it is a policeman's

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Speaker 1: responsibility to do what's right, and unbeknownst to me, it

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Speaker 1: is legal for a police officer to ask you for

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Speaker 1: your license and registration without giving you a just cause initially,

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Speaker 1: and I didn't know that previously, but through that situation

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Speaker 1: I learned that, and I think that something that's simple.

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Speaker 1: If more people knew that, it could prevent some of

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Speaker 1: the tragedies that we've seen happen. You know, at the

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Speaker 1: end of the day, I ended up getting to have

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Speaker 1: conversations with that officer and he wasn't the person that

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Speaker 1: he seemed to be when he pulled me over. I

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Speaker 1: think back, and I say to myself, Wow, what if

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Speaker 1: I would have assumed who this man was and acted accordingly,

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Speaker 1: things could be so different. And why take that chance?

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Speaker 1: Because what am I going to get out of it

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Speaker 1: other than the pleasure of my assumption possibly being right.

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Speaker 1: But even if it's right, is that more important than

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Speaker 1: me being responsible and making it home to my family.

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Speaker 1: So that's my message, and I just think we need

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Speaker 1: to start having these conversations because if we don't, we'll

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Speaker 1: keep assuming, and things that will happen because of those

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Speaker 1: assumptions are too costly. This has been the NFL Legends podcast.

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Speaker 1: To provide feedback or request the topic for discussion, email

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Speaker 1: us at NFL Legends at nfl dot com, n