Janelle Bynum is a mother, business owner and a Democratic representative in the Oregon House of Representatives.
READ MORE: Woman called police on black child mowing lawn, now his business is booming
The 43-year-old politician was canvassing the neighbourhood of Clackamas County on Tuesday, asking voters to consider supporting her in the state’s upcoming election.
“I was going door to door and spending a lot of time typing on my cellphone… aka canvassing,” Bynum explained in a Facebook post.
That’s when a police car pulled up beside her.
The officer explained that someone from the neighbourhood had reported her as “suspicious.”
“I asked to meet my constituent who thought I was suspicious, but she was on the road by then,” the post read.
WATCH: Woman accused of threatening to call police on girl for selling water bottles
Bynum then met the woman who called 911. The woman, who was not identified by name, said she called police “for the safety of her neighbourhood.”
She apologized to Bynum.
The politician recounted the experience to The Oregonian.
READ MORE: U.S. woman berates Latino man in random attack
“It was just bizarre,” she said.
“It boils down to people not knowing their neighbours and people having a sense of fear in their neighbourhoods, which is kind of my job to help eradicate. But at the end of the day, it’s important for people to feel like they can talk to each other to help minimize misunderstandings.”
READ MORE: South Carolina woman slaps black teen, asks him to leave swimming pool
Bynum added that she has knocked on thousands of doors as a politician, and she won’t stop after this incident.
“I hope everyone gets a good look at my face, because I’m coming to your door,” she said.
This is the latest in a series of incidents in the United States, where police have been called on people of colour for trivial reasons.
An Ohio woman recently called the police on a 12-year-old boy who accidentally mowed a strip of her lawn while cutting a neighbour’s grass.
WATCH: Cleveland boy’s lawn-mowing business booms after woman calls police
Days before that, an incident out of South Carolina told the story of a white woman who insulted and hit a black teenager by a pool.
Another one involved a woman calling 911 on a young black girl who was selling water bottles.
There was also the highly reported case of two black men at a Starbucks in Pennsylvania, who were deemed suspicious for no apparent reason.
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