That’s what’s being accused. George Madison Jr., an Indiana youth pastor at a small Baptist Church who makes his living as a firefighter, says that a police cruiser cut him off at an intersection while he was riding his bike. Thinking he recognized one of the officers, he waved at them, and then he says things got a little crazy. “The officer jumped out and says, ‘What are you doing throwing your hands up at us?’,” he told the Courier Press. “He is talking to me as he is coming toward me. I tried to explain, but I couldn’t get a word in edgewise.” The police ordered him to drop his cellphone—which Madison had pulled out to call his friend, Police Chief Billy Bolin—and before he could, they had grabbed him, were waving a taser in front of his face and had him handcuffed.
Madison finally got to explain who he was, and the cops softened their tone. But he says that shouldn’t have changed anything. “The fact that I am a firefighter or preacher doesn’t make a difference,” he said. “All anybody wants is to be treated like a human being.” Chief Bolin told reporters that he is investigating the incident …
