Toria Townsend was driving home from a hair appointment on June 13 when she noticed people were giving her “dirty looks.” She initially could not tell what the problem was, but it later turned out that a portion of a wig she had thrown into her car trunk was sticking outside – causing people to call 911 as they suspected something was wrong.
A worried person who also saw the wig ultimately took a picture of Townsend’s car trunk as well as her license plate and sent it to the police, WJW-TV reported. Police eventually managed to get Townsend’s address and went over to her place to investigate what was in her trunk.
“Not even 10 minutes, I get a Ring … the Massillon police officers are at my door,” Townsend, 30, said after she returned home. She also said she was initially nervous but managed to connect the dots after one of the officers explained why they came to her home.
“The craziest thing — you’re not gonna’ believe it,” the officer told her after she answered the door. “We got a call. Someone was concerned. Are you like a hair stylist or something? … There’s, like, hair peeking out of your trunk.”
“Oh my Jesus, that’s my weave,” Townsend said before they all burst into laughter. Townsend said she dumped her wig in her car trunk and totally forgot it was even there as she was in a hurry to head over to her hair stylist’s studio. However, people who saw the mysterious hair as she was driving, suspected something was wrong.
“Honestly, I’m glad that the person called. It shows how much the community cares,” Townsend said. “Every time you look up, it’s not a good outcome when it comes to a person of color and a police officer. When you finally see that person having jokes and laughing with smiles — that’s amazing.”
The 30-year-old said the responding officers were “extremely nice” and “didn’t make assumptions.” Townsend’s interaction with the police officers was captured on her ring camera. The footage, which was later shared on TikTok, has since gone viral.
“Out of all things, this really happened. … It only happens to me,” she jokingly told WJW-TV.
