Miami Cops Arrest Man Numerous Times For Loitering AKA Showing Up At His Job
Some really awful abuse of citizens by police in Miami in the wake of a store owner, Alex Saleh, mistakenly agreeing to sign up for what police called a "zero tolerance" program to reduce crime. What was launched was a program of abuse. Julie K. Brown writes in the Miami Herald:

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.

One of the times Sampson was arrested, he was in the store, stocking shelves.

In another example:

In December, Saleh was followed out of his parking lot by a Miami Gardens police officer, who stopped him after a few blocks. The officer, Carlos Velez, said he stopped Saleh because his tag light was out.

Two other squad cars arrived at the scene, bringing the total number of officers on the scene to six. A police dashboard camera captured it all.

"I thought, you know, there is a lot of serious crime in Miami Gardens,'' Saleh said. "Why do they need six police officers on a car stop with a burned-out tag light?''

Another officer, Eddo Trimino, approached Saleh's passenger side, opened the door and removed a gun that was in a bag containing the store's money, Saleh said. They ran a check on the gun, which Saleh was licensed to carry.

They cited him for having a bad tag light, tinted windows and bald tires.

Before leaving, the unit's then-sergeant, Martin Santiago, allegedly told Saleh:

"I'm going to get you mother-f-----,''

The next day, Saleh viewed video of his truck as it pulled out of the parking lot the night before.

His tag light was working.

Simon called Miami Gardens' approach of "selective enforcement'' a clear violation of civil rights.

Great long read story -- the whole thing is worth reading.

And here's to Saleh who is going to sue the city. Since he has, Sampson hasn't been arrested and the police are not as active in the store's parking lot, Brown reports.

It is so important to stand up against rights violations. Not doing it just allows them to continue -- and grow.

via @ATabarrok