I've puzzled over this and gone back over it. The issue seems to be that the police request for race was omitted from the MSNBC bit.

His simply volunteering race could make it seem as if he's racist, I'll agree. And, to my mind and the cops, the fellow's race is an important identifier. Even had he volunteered the fellow was black even without a police request it would have been appropriate, and does not indicate racism by itself. Not volunteering it so as to help police identify the fellow rapidly would have been negligent.

And I can see how to some people identifying a person as black could seem prejudicial. But only if one were prejudiced. Otherwise it's just a quality, like wearing red sweatpants or a gray sweatshirt with hoodie.