David Robbins, a recently elected city councilman of Riverview, Michigan, reportedly fabricated an assault while he was being questioned by police for a DUI.
The councilman, who is white, said “a Black guy” attempted to assault him during police questioning at his front porch. (He’s since been charged with “operating while intoxicated, reckless driving and leaving the scene of an accident,” per WDIV-TV.)
Body camera footage of the questioning was uploaded to TikTok by user @auntkaren0. The TikTok received about 174,000 views as of Friday.
Robbins can be seen in the footage sitting down on his porch. He was in the middle of telling the officers questioning him that he didn’t know where his car was because he didn’t drive that night. His story then switched to the assault.
“What the fuck is the problem? Why is everyone worried about the fact that I have my keys as opposed to the fact that a Black guy tried to kill me?” Robbins said.
Another clip of the body cam footage shows Robbins telling the officers that he doesn’t know who his alleged assailant was. But he must not have been a Riverview resident, Robbins said, because if he was he would have recognized him.
“I don’t know what happened, OK?” Robbins said in the next clip of footage. “Except for the fact that some random-ass Black dude who probably had no fucking business being in our city in the fucking first place, did what he did.”
The incident happened Nov. 4, when Robbins was found after a night of drinking to celebrate his election to city council on Nov. 2.
According to an article published this week by the News-Herald, a Michigan-based newspaper, Robbins was found by police in a parking lot hours before the questioning at his porch took place. Here, Robbins was arguing with a man who did have a legal knife. As the News-Herald notes:
[Police Chief Ron] Beggs confirmed that neither Robbins nor the other man wanted to file a complaint against the other.
However, Robbins would later change his story, saying that the man tried to stab him in the chest so he beat the man “until he was not moving.” He added that he hoped the man was OK, but he “kept hitting him until he stopped.”
The man was interviewed by police extensively following the parking lot argument and there were no visible injuries to corroborate Robbins’ account of what happened.
TikTok viewers were not surprised by the allegations, saying Robbins was motivated by racism.
“Why do they keep bringing us into their BS.. leave us alone,” one TikTok viewer commented on the video.
“That lie came out his mouth real easy too…” another viewer said.
One user wrote, “When they emphasize that a BLACK person did something, you know they lying.”
According to his Facebook profile picture, Robbins supported President Donald Trump for re-election in 2020.
As the News-Herald notes, a “preliminary examination of the evidence against Robbins is scheduled for Jan. 6 at the 27th District Court in Wyandotte.”
Robbins did not respond to the Daily Dot’s request for comment via email.
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