When you go to work you would think that you’re supposed to be there, right? That?you would have a reasonable expectation that you wouldn’t be arrested for?trespassing? Since the boss is paying you to be there, hanging around and, you know, earning your pay check?
That isn’t the case for an employee at the Quick Stop in Miami Gardens, Florida who?has been?charged with trespassing?by police for being at work.
Miami Gardens police have stopped and questioned Earl Sampson 258 times in four years. They have searched him during over 100 of those stops. He has been detained 62 times with the charge of ‘trespassing’?and has been tossed in the pokey 56 times. Most of this occurred while Sampson, 28, was at work, doing his job at the Quick Stop.
Because of this harassment, Sampson has an enormously long ‘rap sheet,’ including 38 pages of alleged offenses, but?he has never actually been convicted for anything other than marijuana possession. Sampson isn’t the only one being harassed at the 207 Quick Stop on 207th Street. The owner of the store, Alex Saleh, 36, has been watching his predominantly poor and black customers and employees get the ‘business’ for a long time.
Saleh was so bothered by the circumstances that he installed 15 surveillance cameras in and around the store. He now has video evidence,?over 2 dozen tapes full, of the Miami Gardens police officers over-stepping their authority. From an article in the Miami Herald:
“The videos show, among other things, cops stopping citizens, questioning them, aggressively searching them and arresting them for trespassing when they have permission to be on the premises; officers conducting searches of Saleh’s business without search warrants or permission; using what appears to be excessive force on subjects who are clearly not resisting arrest and filing inaccurate police reports in connection with the arrests.”?
“One video, recorded on June 26, 2012, shows Sampson, clearly stocking coolers, being interrupted by MGPD Sgt. William Dunaske, who orders him to put his hands behind his back, and then handcuffs him, leads him out of the store and takes him to jail for trespassing.”
Chuck Drago, former police officer, currently works as a consultant on use of force and the application of police policy and the use of force stated,
?There is just no justifying this kind of behavior. Nobody can justify overstepping the constitution to fight crime.?
Police Chief Matthew Boyd has stated that his department is there to ‘serve and protect’ the businesses and community. The Executive Director of the American Civil Liberties Union Florida, Howard Simon, has declared that the exact opposite is what is happening:
?Where is the police chief in all this? In a police department in a city this size, this kind of behavior could not escape his attention. Doesn?t the City Commission know that they are exposing the city to either massive liability for civil rights violations? Either that, or they are going to wake up one day and find the U.S. Department of Justice has taken over its police department.??
Saleh is in the process of filing a federal civil rights lawsuit, citing that officers have routinely engaged in racial profiling, illegal searches, and many other activities under the direction of top officials. The practices were initially in response to an extremely high crime rate, but Saleh contends that the crimes are being committed by the police now, not his customers and employees.
Saleh has already filed an Internal Affairs report with the department, but he says that the harassment became even more aggressive following that complaint.
In a written, emailed?statement to the Miami Herald, Police Chief Boyd stated,
?Rest assured that our department is fully committed to complying with the laws that govern us.?? He added that he was also committed to ?exceeding the expectations of those that rely on us, and providing the best possible service to the residents of this great City.??
As a former law enforcement officer, I am very concerned that if the police?department continues ‘exceeding expectations’ in Miami Gardens, the entire city will not be safe for her African-American residents. The police chief is also African-American by the way. And he seems perfectly willing to continue these unfair practices against citizens, all in his over-zealous attempt to ‘protect and serve.’ Is it any wonder that people no longer trust police?
Watch video from the surveillance cameras?below.
