From [HERE] Miami-area police have been accused of racial targeting after stopping and questioning a young black man 258 times in four years. They reportedly also arrested him 56 times and searched him more than 100 times. The USA Today reported the most serious charge Earl Sampson, 28, has been convicted of is possession of marijuana.
Miami Gardens police have arrested Sampson 62 times for trespassing at the 207 Quickstop. Sampson works as a clerk at the convenience store, the USA Today reported the Miami Herald stated. Owner of the store, Alex Saleh, 26, said he wants to know why that for more than a year Sampson, as well as other 207 Quickstop customers and employees have been stopped and frisked repeatedly by Miami Gardens police. He reported most of those have been poor and black. Saleh said some have been stooped up to three times in one day.
Earl Sampson, an employee of 207 Quickstop in Miami Gardens, exits the store to take out the garbage. After he walks back inside, he is arrested -- for trespassing. [MORE]
The New York Daily News reported Saleh plans to file a civil rights lawsuit against the mayor of the city and the police department. He says he has installed cameras in the store to monitor police activity both inside and outside of his store.
"They ask him, 'What are you doing here?'" recalled Saleh. "He said, 'I work here.' The clerk said he works here. I said, 'I'm the owner, let him go. I work here.' The officer said, 'Yeah right.'
"So he has more power than me!" According to Saleh, it doesn't stop there.
In addition to video appearing to show Sampson being grabbed by an officer while taking out the trash and at another time searched against a wall, Saleh accuses them of searching throughout his store without a warrant.
A Miami Gardens police officer who asked to use the bathroom searches around the back room without permission.
The Daily News reported that nobody returned calls immediately to the Miami Gardens Police Department, including Chief Matthew Boyd and Deputy Chief of Police Paul Miller, requesting comment.
The police department did release a statement to the Miami Herald, however, stating "the department is committed to serving and protecting the [white] citizens and businesses in the city."
An employee is working at 207 Quickstop when an officer strides in, grabs him and takes him away. Owner Alex Saleh says his customers and employees are routinely arrested for trespassing by Miami Gardens police. He installed video cameras to prove his point.
"There is just no justifying this kind of behavior," police policy consultant Chuck Drago commented to the Herald. "Nobody can justify overstepping the constitution to fight crime."
According to newshour24.com, when Saleh told police they did not have a search warrant, he was told the law enforcement officers would open an investigation. One reportedly told him, "it's been 15 months. " [MORE]