Baseball star Torii Hunter of the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim (which means The The Angels Angels of Ana Home) was sitting on his couch watching TV yesterday afternoon. Typical man stuff. News reports did not mention whether it was a “man-cave” or not, but I assume it was probably one of those classy living rooms like in the magazines.

Then he noticed there were men in the backyard of his Newport Coast home. They were approaching his backdoor. And they had their guns out.

Hunter stood up, noticing them, and was immediately told to show his hands. In his own home. He didn’t have an ID right there. He was watching TV on the couch, who needs ID to watch TV on your couch? His ID was upstairs. No problem. Just be escorted up the steps by two police officers, with their guns out. So they can shoot you if you do something. In your own home. Because Torii Hunter is Black? Because Torii Hunter is Black.

California is one of many states with “reasonable force” for “defense of property” laws. Hunter is a licensed gun owner. It would not be far-fetched that when he first heard sounds of two men prowling around on his property he might have retrieved his gun. He almost certainly would have if he saw that these two men were carrying pistols before he noticed they were police officers. I don’t even wanna type out what could have occurred had the situation as enumerated above played out but instead of a remote control the police intruders saw that the putative Black intruder (who owned the million-dollar-plus property) had a gun in his hand.

It was all supposedly a misunderstanding. Something triggered the household alarm system, and the security company called Torii’s wife (who was still in their off-season home in Texas) and not Torii, because, y’know, he’s a baseball player. He travels the country wearing polyester pants that only have pocket-space for batting gloves not cellphones playing baseball in front of millions of people.

Hunter is a four-time All-Star and one of the highest-paid players in the game. He is widely recognized nationally, and especially so in Orange County. Upon leaving, one of the officers told Hunter he was a big fan.

America! FUCK YEAH!