A black man was stopped in the street by a white police officer because he was walking with his hands in his pockets.

American Brandon McKean was walking Pontiac, Michigan, where the temperature was just above zero degrees, on Thanksgiving day last week when a police officer stopped him, and asked him what he was doing.

When Mr McKean asked the police officer why he was being stopped, he was told: “You’re making people nervous.”

Mr McKean, who filmed the entire exchange, said: “Wow, walking by having your hands in your pockets makes people nervous and want to call the police? When it’s snowing outside?”

Mr McKean posted the video onto YouTube and his Facebook page, with the comment “police state”.

During the exchange, Mr McKean makes reference to unrest in Ferguson, Missouri, where racial tensions between black citizens and the police have escalated into months of riots following the shooting of Michael Brown.

“Because of the whole police situation going across the country right now this is outrageous,” he told the officer.