A man was dragged out of his car and tased by cops. He still believes in peace, love, and positivity.

A few weeks ago, Philadelphia police dragged Devon Sistrunk out of his car and handcuffed him facedown in the street.

In a video Sistrunk posted of the encounter on social media, he said the cops pulled him over for a “routine traffic stop for tinted windows.” But when I watched the encounter, I don’t think the cops would have done that to a driver wearing a business suit.

They wouldn’t have done it to me, either.

They wouldn’t have done that to a lot of people.

But Sistrunk is young, Black, and male.

The aspiring educator was driving his 2023 Kia Forte through West Philly on Oct. 14 when the police pulled him over at 53rd and Market Streets. Sistrunk, who works as a teaching assistant at Universal Charter School at Audenried, told me he initially assumed the squad car wanted to pass.

But then, two Philadelphia police officers got out and approached his car. One asked for his driver’s license and registration, while another flashed a bright light in his face.

In his video, Sistrunk says he was about to put the car in park to stop it from moving, but one of the cops warned him not to reach for anything. Instead, he put his hands up. One of the officers asked for his license and registration, put his hand through the driver’s side window, and opened the door. Sistrunk was pulled out as he yelled, “I didn’t do anything! I didn’t do anything!”

Meanwhile, his car continued rolling down the street. Sistrunk said an officer stuck his foot inside to try and stop the car but accidentally put his foot on the gas. Next thing he knew, Sistrunk said he was Tased in the leg, handcuffed, and lying facedown in the street.

“I didn’t know what I had done, and I didn’t know why this traffic stop had turned into this. But I knew that I was scared,” he says in his Instagram video.

According to Sistrunk, police told him he was being arrested for “disorderly conduct” and took him to Mercy Hospital, where he was treated for minor injuries and released into police custody. He estimated that he was in an 18th Police District holding cell for about 13 hours before finally being allowed to leave.

In the end, Sistrunk was not charged. But the incident left him bruised and badly shaken.

When Sistrunk discovered a portion of his police encounter had been posted on the NoGunZone Instagram page, he incorporated that footage into his own social media video, explaining his version of events. (A Philadelphia police public affairs told me via email: “We are aware of this incident that occurred in the 18th District. We will not be commenting, this is being investigated by our Internal Affairs Bureau.”)

Philly police haven’t been pulling motorists over for minor traffic violations as often as they used to, thanks to “driving equality” legislation enacted in March 2022, which bars police from stopping motorists for eight low-level violations. But until this incident, I didn’t realize that tinted windows — which Sistrunk has on his car — remain a viable reason for cops to pull drivers over.

Councilmember Isaiah Thomas, who sponsored the “driving equality” legislation, has weighed in on what happened to Sistrunk. “By tasing and beating and holding Devon Sistrunk with unclear cause, we are misusing police time and creating a further disconnect between law enforcement and the communities they are meant to protect,” Thomas said in a statement. “I stand with Devon and the other Black men whose main offense is Driving while Black. I am proud of the work we’ve started with Driving Equality but the work must continue.”

The incident with Sistrunk is scary because it could easily have escalated. As I watched the video, images from the body-cam video of the recent fatal police shooting of motorist Eddie Irizarry flashed through my mind. Irizarry was killed when he was still sitting in his car. What if that had happened to Sistrunk?

The video has also had an impact on Terrance Sistrunk, Devon’s father, a retired Philly police officer. “There’s a lot that the video doesn’t answer,” he told me. “My question is, why are you pulling a driver out of a moving car?”

That car — which had been left in gear — could easily have hit a pedestrian.

The irony of it all is that this incident happened to someone who has focused so much of his life on spreading positive messages. Every Wednesday, Sistrunk posts motivational videos on Instagram reminding his followers about the importance of discipline and focus.

The 2022 honors graduate of Strayer University also has a clothing brand called Peace Love Positivity that he founded in 2019. When he’s not working on his own projects or at Audenried, Sistrunk works for a catering company. He plans to get a master’s degree and become a certified teacher.

He told me he’s been “working to stay positive” after the police incident.

“This trauma is probably going to follow him a long time. My hope is that he gets the counseling and therapy he needs,” Devon’s father told me. The elder Sistrunk also has questions for his former employer, the Philadelphia Police Department. “Are these officers still on the job? How do you explain that to the citizens of Philadelphia who you have been given charge to protect? This went way left.”

It could have ended much worse.

Devon Sistrunk knows that. At the end of his video about the incident, he urges viewers to remember that life can change in a moment. Tell people you love them, he said, “because you never know when you leave out the house if that’s going to be the last time you leave out the house and don’t know if you’re gonna make it back.”