The tension in Ferguson is rippling across the nation, leading both citizens and police to record any interaction on their cell phones. INSIDE EDITION reports.
A just-released ABC News/Washington Post poll says the nation is evenly divided over the grand jury decision not to indict police officer Darren Wilson.
Forty-eight percent approve and 45 percent disapprove of the grand jury decision.
But the poll shows a deep racial divide. Fifty-eight percent of whites approve of the decision not to indict, compared with just nine percent of blacks.
Sportscaster Charles Barkley is now speaking out, condemning the looting and destruction in Ferguson in a radio interview.
In the interview, Barkley said, "Those aren't real Black people, those are scum----. The real Black people, they're not out there looting. There's no excuse for those people to be out there burning down people's businesses, burning up police cars. That serves no purpose." (Source: Philadelphia 97.5 The Fanatic)
The crisis in Ferguson is fueling bitterness on both sides of the issue.
A 25-year-old man was simply walking down the street when he was stopped by a cop and pulls out his cell phone to record the encounter.
In the video, the man says to the cop, "Walking by and doing what?"
The cop says, "Well, you're making people nervous."
"By walking by?" responds the man.
Next, the cop actually pulls out his cell phone. Now, we see both sides.
"What are you up to today?" asks the cop.
"Walking, with my hands in my pockets, walking," responds the man.
The cop asks, "Is that an inconvenience to talk to me right now?"
He responds, "Hell yeah. Just because of the whole police situation going across the country."
Watch the Video
It all started when a pizza parlor in Pontiac, Michigan, called 911 about a suspicious person. That person turned out to be Brandon McKean.
McKean told INSIDE EDITION's Steven Fabian, "The funny thing is that I order pizza from that place all the time and I don't think that they recognized me."
The caller from the pizza parlor told 911, "There's a light-skinned guy that passes by five to six times back and forth, back and forth. Looking at us, looking inside. He looks suspicious."
McKean told Fabian, "They said I walked by six times and that's a bald-faced lie."
In the video, McKean says to the cop, "This is outrageous that you would let somebody tell you, 'There's somebody walking down the street with their hands in their pockets.' There's 10,000 people in Pontiac right now with their hands in their pockets, so how many..."
The cop interrupts and says, "You're right, but we do have a lot of robberies, so I'm just checking on you."
But here's the remarkable thing, McKean and the police officer treated each other with respect.
In the video, McKean says, "I'm being very respectable. You're being very respectable."
The cop responds, "High five!"
McKean says, "Just the whole situation, I mean, I'm really mad at the situation to whoever called. That's crazy!"
Fabian spoke to Oakland County sheriff Michael Bouchard.
Bouchard said, "I thought the deputy was very respectful and very polite and very restrained."
McKean told Fabian, "I just put it out there to make sure that people record your police encounters. If you get pulled over, you know, start the camera. There's no law against recording police and, you know, it's for your safety as well as theirs."
