In Miami Gardens, store video catches cops in the act

[Type Username Here]

Earl Sampson has been stopped and questioned by Miami Gardens police 258 times in four years.

He’s been searched more than 100 times. And arrested and jailed 56 times.

Despite his long rap sheet, Sampson, 28, has never been convicted of anything more serious than possession of marijuana.

Miami Gardens police have arrested Sampson 62 times for one offense: trespassing.

Almost every citation was issued at the same place: the 207 Quickstop, a convenience store on 207th Street in Miami Gardens.

But Sampson isn’t loitering. He works as a clerk at the Quickstop.

So how can he be trespassing when he works there?

It’s a question the store’s owner, Alex Saleh, 36, has been asking for more than a year as he watched Sampson, his other employees and his customers, day after day, being stopped and frisked by Miami Gardens police. Most of them, like Sampson, are poor and black.

And, like Sampson, many of them have been cited for minor infractions, sometimes as often as three times in the same day.

Saleh was so troubled by what he saw that he decided to install video cameras in his store. Not to protect himself from criminals, because he says he has never been robbed. He installed the cameras — 15 of them — he said, to protect him and his customers from police.

Since he installed the cameras in June 2012 he has collected more than two dozen videos, some of which have been obtained by the Miami Herald. Those tapes, and Sampson’s 38-page criminal history — including charges never even pursued by prosecutors — raise some troubling questions about the conduct of the city’s police officers.

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.

“There is just no justifying this kind of behavior,’’ said Chuck Drago, a former police officer and consultant on police policy and the use of force. “Nobody can justify overstepping the constitution to fight crime.”

Repeated phone messages and emails to Miami Gardens Police Chief Matthew Boyd and City Manager Cameron Benson asking for comment on this story were not returned.

Boyd did release a statement, saying that the department is committed to serving and protecting the citizens and businesses in the city.

But Howard Simon, executive director of the American Civil Liberties Union Florida, said that’s exactly what Boyd is NOT doing.

“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.’’

Salah and his attorney, Steve Lopez, are preparing to file a federal civil rights lawsuit, contending that the police department has routinely, under the direction of the city’s top leaders, directed its officers to conduct racial profiling, illegal stops and searches and other activities to cover up illegal misconduct.

...
CONTINUED IN SOURCE BELOW

http://www.miamiherald.com/2013/11/21/3769823/in-miami-gardens-store-video-catches.html

 

[Sohh_lifted]

Read this about an hour ago...that's sad.. Just sad hopefully shop owner rapes the city and gives his employees a cut

 

[Suicide King]

People in the Locker Room love cops, but this is what I grew up with, and it made you not want to go to certain spots in your city.

It wasn't even about cleaning up the city or the neighborhood wanting aggressive police tactics, you had cops who got their rocks off by messing with people.

Its nothing more than harassment.

 

[Type Username Here]

People in the Locker Room love cops, but this is what I grew up with, and it made you not want to go to certain spots in your city.

It wasn't even about cleaning up the city or the neighborhood wanting aggressive police tactics, you had cops who got their rocks off by messing with people.

Its nothing more than harassment.

Harassment wouldn't be the word I would use. This is illegal, unconstitutional behavior that should warrant serious prison time.

 

[LA Fisher]

If he stayed his black ass home he wouldn't have any problems

 

[Suicide King]

Harassment wouldn't be the word I would use. This is illegal, unconstitutional behavior that should warrant serious prison time.

All I know, there are places I avoid if I see cops out there going extra hard. Especially if they initiate contact with me, I'm just too old for it as of yet. The criminals never worried me, it was always the cops, and where I grew had those fakkits from BSO. They made me hate the color green.

 

[the cac mamba]

this is fukkin disgusting. this dudes about to ether the city but there better be some consequences for these cocksuckers

 

[ill]

Wait, you're telling me the Miami PD is corrupt?





Nah but for real, this is fukked up. Clear violation of citizens constitutional rights. Hopefully this guys videos will be admissible in court and all the perpetrators get remanded by the Attorney General and then get their wallets cleaned out in civil suits. This is abuse of power at its finest.

 

[Type Username Here]

Wait, you're telling me the Miami PD is corrupt?





Nah but for real, this is fukked up. Clear violation of citizens constitutional rights. Hopefully this guys videos will be admissible in court and all the perpetrators get remanded by the Attorney General and then get their wallets cleaned out in civil suits. This is abuse of power at its finest.

I'm honestly happy that these people might get some sort of financial compensation but at the same time it is the financial compensation that keeps things like this going. A cop or two might get fired or suspended. There isn't real accountability. What needs to happen is for these people to be charged and put in prison for a decade or two to set an example that this thuggish behavior won't be tolerated.

 

[ill]

I'm honestly happy that these people might get some sort of financial compensation but at the same time it is the financial compensation that keeps things like this going. A cop or two might get fired or suspended. There isn't real accountability. What needs to happen is for these people to be charged and put in prison for a decade or two to set an example that this thuggish behavior won't be tolerated.

Even cops have rights . We don't know the extent of their violations or if it was specific officers or just the whole damn department. I don't disagree with them needing to send a strong message so this doesn't happen again but lets be real, it won't happen. The only way I see it happening is if it was one or two cops that continuously did this kind of stuff. Those dudes would get put away. If its a systematic problem within the department though, nothings gonna happen. The chief will tell everyone to relax and lay off for a few months (maybe years) and then it will be back to business as usual.

 

[the cac mamba]

katherinefernandezrundle@miamisao.com is the Da's email address

i sent her a note letting her know my opinion on the issue

 

[acri1]

Stop playing the race card. If these thugs would stop committing crimes then the police wouldn't need to take these precautions.

 

[Akata Man Bromo]

I was that way last Friday too smh sad

 

[Suicide King]

Even cops have rights . We don't know the extent of their violations or if it was specific officers or just the whole damn department. I don't disagree with them needing to send a strong message so this doesn't happen again but lets be real, it won't happen. The only way I see it happening is if it was one or two cops that continuously did this kind of stuff. Those dudes would get put away. If its a systematic problem within the department though, nothings gonna happen. The chief will tell everyone to relax and lay off for a few months (maybe years) and then it will be back to business as usual.

The who idea of law enforcement can lead to systematic problems and abuses. Cops, have little to nothing to keep them honest.

 

[mcellas]

Miami Gardens I'm not surprised them nikkas are very corrupt