Deadly Police Shootings: An Ethnomethodological and Conversation Analytic Approach to the Killing of Samuel Dubose

• In Event: 4369 - Research in Ethnomethodology

Abstract

This paper explores what can be learned from analyzing the shooting of black motorist Samuel Dubose by a white police officer Ray Tensing using Ethnomethodology and Conversation Analysis. The paper explores three issues visible in the data: a) how an officer’s use of the in-car computer play a significant role in the surveillance practices and pre-stop resources of the police (Meehan 1998, Meehan and Ponder 2001) to form a central part of the interactional asymmetry that occurs in this institutional environment Heritage and Clayman 2010); b) how the summons-answer sequence (Schegloff 1986, 2007) used in this (and all traffic stops) achieves the act of “pulling someone over” demonstrating how closely this is monitored by the officer and how it mobilizes officers nearby, and c) how from the first turn of talk in the opening greeting sequence to Officer Tensing’s request/order for Mr. Dubose to remove his seatbelt as he (Officer Tensing) is opening the door to the vehicle, the interaction between the participants is anything but “calm and polite” as suggested by various media commentators and experts. I conclude with implications of this research for criminologists who are interested in studying actual videotapes of police-citizen interaction.

Author

• Albert J. Meehan, Oakland University