Here's the thing: the guy is stopped because he's black, average size and wears a knitted hat during the winter. It's like being stopped because you are white, average size and wear a baseball cap.
Would that ever happen? Very rarely. Would the officer stopping a white guy who fitted a 1/5 description grab for his gun? Of course not.
A robbery had just taken place (presumably nearby), and the perpetrator had been described to the police as black.
There is a time and place factor here together with a description; they are not randomly stopping someone in a random location at a random time just for looking black.
I realize the police have to do their job somehow. But if the subject was a white male, 160 lbs, with a winter hat on and I happened to be near the scene of the crime, I can't imagine the police ever bringing me in for questioning even though I'd fit the description as well. They'd take one look at me, see I'm a nerdy white guy with a good-old American name, ask me if I'd seen anything, and then let me go.
IMHO, this description is practically useless. It is, in fact, racial profiling; that's the effective description. And the officer's knew that when they took it down from the witness and they knew that when they pulled this man (and likely several others) over for questioning.
I would not so easily let the officers off the hook. The worst case is that this happens so often, they don't even see it for what it is.
A poor description is quite useful when used in real time: during a small window of time after the crime, within a small radius.
Descriptions are frequently sketchy like this. You hear them on the news daily. "Middle-aged white male wearing jeans and a ball cap". If that's all you have and don't act on it immediately at the time and location, its usefulness evaporates.
"the guy is stopped because he's black, average size and wears a knitted hat during the winter."
Because the description of the suspect is "black, average size, and wears a knit cap." Indeed the description could have been more complete. Whomever interviewed the victim might have botched it. Maybe the woman was completely wrong. Maybe the communication for a BOLO was still incomplete.
But that's the description they had and that's the description they went on. These cops could have been less intimidating, but with the information they had, they still had to check this guy out.
It happened to me a few years ago. A guy had just robbed a 7-11 and I was walking home from work. The cop stopped me, cuffed me, put me in his car, drove me back to the crime scene and had the witness make sure it wasn't me. I'm a fat, short white guy, btw.
Stopping people who fit the description of somebody who just committed a crime is the system working. No wonder both sides are agitated. The cops get slammed if they do their job and if they don't. No matter what the cops do, certain citizens will say it either is too much or not enough.
Seriously, the only thing I get out of these conversations these days is nobody here should be taken seriously about anything serious.
Would that ever happen? Very rarely. Would the officer stopping a white guy who fitted a 1/5 description grab for his gun? Of course not.