By Police1 Staff
MUNCIE, Ind. — A driver’s selfie with a cop is going viral.
After driver, Gregory Barnes Jr., was pulled over by the police for speeding, he took a selfie with an officer and posted it to Facebook calling out for respect, PIX11 reported.
The incident occurred on Sept. 18 when Barnes was pulled over by Officer Shawn Cosgrove. Barnes wrote in a Facebook post, that although neither of them knew each other, they ‘showed one another a mutual display of respect’ in their interaction.
Barnes also acknowledged his speeding “mistake” was what caused their paths to cross.
“He ran my information, and in the end we talked more about how are [sic] individual days were going, and the situations and circumstances within our society that have lead to interactions such as he and I’s to play out much more negatively, some even deadly, than ours,” Barnes wrote on Facebook.
Both the officer and Barnes thanked each other for the respectful interaction and took selfies. Barnes posted the photo to Facebook where it accumulated over 500,000 shares.
Barnes, who works as the vice president of sales at STAR financial bank, also added a call for peace and mutual respect.
“I can’t stress enough that NO demographic and/or profession of people are all bad,” Barnes said. “Neither of us are the enemy. We can continue to fight against each other until we are literally ‘black and blue’, or we can show one another the respect we inherently deserve, not as ‘black man’ and ‘blue police officer’, but as humans. None greater, none less...#Respect.”
Barnes has received a lot of attention from his post - including offers for free drinks and meals. He’s asked people to instead donate to the Muncie Boys & Girls Club and the Roy C. Buley Community Center which he credits with raising him as a small child.