It’s been a rough four years
for Florida resident, Earl Sampson, where the judicial system is concerned.
Sampson’s number of run-ins with the Miami Gardens police department is
unprecedented. To be more specific, Sampson has been stopped and/or questioned
approximately 258 times, and searched over 100 times. Then, to make matters
worse, the interrogation and harassment is only the gist of it all.
Sampson, who is an African
American, has also been arrested a total of 62 times as a result of racial
profiling. But, get this, almost every time Sampson was arrested for
trespassing, it was at the 207 Quickstop convenience store where he works.
There have even been cases where Sampson has actually been followed to the
store before being arrested, even with his employment status at the store.
According to the International
Business Times, of all the encounters and arrests Sampson has endured, his
biggest conviction is still possession of marijuana. That particular conviction
actually had no relation to any incident at his workplace.
Alex Saleh, owner of the 207
Quickstop, also weighed in with his perspective and negative experiences of
harassment from Miami Gardens law enforcement. “I thought, you know, there is a
lot of serious crime in Miami Gardens,” he said. “Why do they need six police
officers on a car stop with a burned-out tag light?” Due to the high level of
harassment around the convenience store, Saleh took the initiative and
installed 15 video cameras in and around the parameter of the store in an
effort to monitor the actions of Miami Gardens police. Saleh explained his
hopes to uncover why the police department continues target and harass the same
individuals on a regular basis.
The Miami Herald reports that
the area’s demographic predominantly consists of African Americans. Most of the
individuals stopped are black and impoverished. The Herald also notes that some
have been stopped and frisked as much as three times in one single day in that
particular neighborhood. “There is just no justifying this kind of behavior,”
police policy consultant Chuck Drago explained to the Herald. “Nobody can
justify overstepping the constitution to fight crime.”
In store’s video footage,
officers were captured searching and arresting both employees and customers at
the store, although no law violations were evident. The footage also shows the
officers searching the store without proper warrant.
