The Boulder police officer, who called other officers to the scene in the March 1 incident, is on paid administrative leave, the newspaper reported.
According to a news release from the police department, a Boulder police officer observed a man sitting in a partially enclosed patio area behind a "private property" sign and asked if the man was allowed to be there.
Sunday march in protest of Boulder police confronting black man picking up trash in his yard https://t.co/O7czt7T5vT pic.twitter.com/seoOq5pvp1
— Daily Camera (@dailycamera) March 8, 2019
The man said he lived and worked at the building and produced an identification card, but the officer detained the man, according to the release.
The incident was captured on video and published on YouTube and social media. It showed the officer talking with a man with a bucket and a long item in a front yard.
In the video, the officer is shown talking with the man and has his hand on his hip, CNN reported.
According to the Daily Camera, the man is a student at Naropa University in Boulder, and the building is listed as a school residence. The long item was identified as a trash picker.
Police have not named the man or the officer, the newspaper reported.
In the 16-minute video, the man can be seen holding a bucket and the trash picker.
“You’re on my property with a gun in your hand threatening to shoot me because I’m picking up trash?" the man with the trash picker says.
“Just relax, man,” the officer says in the video.
"He's picking up trash," the person filming the video said several times. "He lives here.
“Go home.”
In its release, Boulder police said several officers responded, including a supervisor. It was confirmed by police the object the man was holding was used to pick up trash.
"Officers ultimately determined that the man had a legal right to be on the property and returned the man's school identification card," the release said. "All officers left the area and no further action was taken."
The Boulder chapters of the NAACP and Showing Up for Racial Justice are organizing a Sunday march on Sunday to protest racial profiling, the Daily Camera reported.
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