This Cop Was So Deadly, They Called Him “Mr. STRESS”
Black History Year
PushBlack
4.6 • 2.2K Ratings
🗓️ 9 August 2025
⏱️ 4 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
This Detroit cop’s reign could have ended after he brutally beat a Black woman who filed a complaint. But his power only grew. And as he committed homicide after homicide in this deadly unit, he gained this nickname: Mr. STRESS.
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Transcript
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| 0:29.8 | This Detroit cop's reign could have ended after he brutally beat a black woman who filed a complaint. |
| 0:36.8 | But his power only grew, and as he committed homicide after homicide in this deadly unit, |
| 0:42.6 | he gained his nickname, Mr. Stress. |
| 0:46.8 | I'm Len from Push Black, and this is Two-Minute Black History, |
| 0:50.9 | what you didn't learn in school. |
| 1:00.0 | Thank you. What You Didn't Learn in School. In 1971, the Stop the Robberies Enjoy Safe Streets, A.K.A. Stress Unit began terrorizing Detroit. |
| 1:10.4 | Police officer Raymond Peterson became admired and feared as Mr. Stress. |
| 1:17.7 | Because within just a couple of years, he shot and killed nine people. |
| 1:24.1 | Stress frequently used decoys. |
| 1:27.4 | Peterson would disguise himself to look like an easy mark for pickpockets so he couldn't trap them. |
| 1:33.4 | One night, he followed a sex worker into an apartment and then shot one of two gay men he saw in bed together. |
| 1:41.8 | This was the first of many stress killings. In the 1973, this case changed |
| 1:48.1 | everything. After a sleepy 23-year-old Robert Hoyt accidentally rear-ended him, Peterson shot |
| 1:55.8 | him dead. Then he planted a knife at the scene. He failed dismally. |
| 2:02.1 | Investigators found fur matching Peterson's cat on the knife. |
| 2:06.9 | When Peterson stood trial, stress officers filled the courtroom to support him. |
| 2:12.6 | Peterson donned a bulletproof vest. He claimed his reputation as Mr. Stress and made him paranoid about |
... |
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