Video After The Jump
Like the movie Groundhog Day, 28-year old Earl Sampson wakes up and relives the same day over and over except this isn't a film and certainly not funny. Miami Gardens police have stopped Sampson 258 times, search him 100 times and taken him to jail on 56 occasions for trespassing at the Quik Stop store where he works.
“They’re always stopping me, going in my pockets, asking me for my ID, running my name,” Sampson told CBS4′s Lauren Pastrana. "The same ones stop me two or three times a day. I feel like I can't even be in my own neighborhood no more. They're supposed to protect and serve, but really it's just harassing."
After all of the arrests Sampson only has one conviction, for weed possession.
Alex Saleh
His boss, Alex Saleh, has seen enough. He set up 16 surveillance cameras to document the abuse of power by the police.
"They created [Sampson's] record," Saleh, told the New York Daily News. "He's a good guy, a humble guy, a quiet guy. He's not a convicted felon. They ask him, 'What are you doing here? He said, 'I work 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!"
In one instance Sampson is seen restocking a cooler inside the store when a police accuses him of trespassing. The store owner claims the officer was told that Sampson works there but didn't care.
Saleh, Sampson and their attorney Steve Lopez are going to file a federal civil rights lawsuit soon against the police department. They allege that police have been instructed to illegally stop and search citizens through racial profiling.
Store owner Alex Saleh set up cameras after believing that police were unlawfully harassing his employees and customers. On the footage captured, he says police are seen illegally searching his store.
“They’re stopping people for no reason in front of the business. Anywhere. Illegally search people,” Saleh said.
When contacted about this story by CBS4, Mayor Oliver Gilbert would not comment on the Sampson case, but he did speak about the city's crime-reduction policy two weeks ago after a string of shootings.
“The line is zero tolerance,” Gilbert explained at the time. “So if you break a law, you’re going to jail.”
Store surveillance video since set up by the owner of the Miami Gardens convenience store shows Sampson being stopped by police after simply exiting the store.
Saleh signed up for the policy, a decision he now regrets.
"It is illegal. They created a policy that's illegal," he said. "You can't violate people's rights just by standing in front of a business. You have no right to pull me against the wall and search me and question me for no reason."
Sources: CBS4 and New York Daily News
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