Former NFL linebacker Aaron Maybin has first-hand look at Baltimore unrest

A few months ago Aaron Maybin, a first-round pick in the 2009 NFL draft, was a passenger in his own vehicle, driving through downtown Baltimore. His cousin was behind the wheel and the two young men were on their way to Maybin’s home, not far from the downtown area – the scene of riots that have gripped this nation over the past week.

It was there in his hometown that Maybin, who is black, claims he was profiled by members of the Baltimore Police Department.

He tells the story calmly and with detail, a chronology that began a few months back on an innocent trip back to his house. Maybin’s Cadillac Escalade was stopped at a red light when there was a knock on their window from two police officers, who had the truck flanked.

Maybin said they were stopped them for no reason, no probable cause and no traffic violation. Maybin and his cousin were forced to get out of their car, Maybin said, stripped of their cell phones and licenses. Maybin’s plates were run by the police but nothing came up on him or his cousin, he said.

Their licenses were eventually returned and both men went to put them in their wallets. As they did so, Maybin said the police went as if for their guns, not knowing why the two men were reaching into their pockets.

“At that point, we got nervous. These are the situations that end up in men getting killed,” Maybin told Yahoo Sports. “They told us to keep our hands up where they could see them. At the end of the day, we complied with what they said.

“We had no choice.”

Then Maybin and his cousin were taken out of their vehicle and sat on the curb. Maybin said his trunk was damaged during the subsequent search – the trunk area works on a remote control and the police forced it open and then jammed it shut, causing parts of the back console to break. Maybin said he had to bring it in for repairs a few days later.

Nothing was found in the vehicle and the police did not apologize for the stop, according to Maybin.

“Literally they had no reason for doing what they were doing, no cause, nothing,” Maybin said.

Despite how upsetting the story is for Maybin to tell, his heart still very much beats for the city of Baltimore and the aftermath of the death of Freddie Gray just 10 days ago. Since then, the city has seen a full range of emotions from tears and pain to peaceful protests to vandalism and looting and riots. Now retired from the NFL, the former Buffalo Bills and New York Jets linebacker has seen – and experienced – first-hand a city reeling in pain.

Maybin is now a full-time artist with a downtown studio in Baltimore that is just a few blocks from the spot of the most visible and violent protests over the past few weeks. And he lives just 10 minutes via car from the city’s Western District where so many of the protests have been initiated.

He paints and shoot photographs and video, hoping to create images to inspire people. But this week, his lens has been turned on a city in chaos and confusion.

He first went down with his Canon Eos 70D last Wednesday and he’s been back every day since. He has taken roughly a thousand photos over the past few weeks, many of which can be seen on his Instagram account.

“At the end of the day, I understand the issues for what they are, from the grassroots before the national attention and media cameras got here. I grew up with some of the same persecution kids are rioting over. I understand. Getting a little bit older now, I’m 27 and a father. And I have the responsibility of raising a young man in this city and this point of time. They more so more than anyone else in the community knew Freddy, they grew up with him,” Maybin said.

“They’ve faced a lot of hardships and then education system that doesn’t give them a lot of the tools they need to be successful in today’s society. They’re screaming out for hope, they’re screaming out for love. They’re screaming out for attention for a cause that the world doesn’t really know about. It is a heartbreaking situation. You see the images of the looting and the burning of their own community, their property. But the images I’m trying to show are the positives ones, of people being unbroken.”

He talks about being in the forefront of the community and having a platform, a former first-round pick and a college football star at Penn State who now can help a city that is at odds with itself. He sees hope for Baltimore, he sees a place that can be reborn despite what he has seen and what he has experienced.

Armed with his camera and his quick-to-flash smile, Maybin wants to show the world not just his artistic side but a city clouded with smoke and its own uncertainty. As he puts it, “To see all the images, the good and the bad.”

“Me being an artist, me being a photographer, one of my really big ideals that I’ve always preached to the artists that I mentor is that everybody, whether you’re an entertainer, an athlete or a celebrity – everybody has an obligation, a moral obligation and responsibility to use your platform as a catalyst for social and political change in a positive direction,” Maybin said.

Last Monday, he witnessed high school students, let out of school early and without access to mass transportation, congregating in one place. He watched as the police descended in full riot gear.

“It was heartbreaking,” Maybin said.

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Kristian R. Dyer writes for Metro New York and is a contributor to Yahoo Sports. Follow him on Twitter @KristianRDyer