Last week, a Florida cop stopped a 21-year-old black man for jaywalking, threatened to arrest him, and issued him a $130 ticket for failing to have his license on him, the Miami Herald reports.
Devonte Shipman posted a video of his run-in with officer J.S. Bolen in Jacksonville on Facebook last Wednesday. The footage begins just after the officer confronts Shipman, who calmly asks the officer what he did wrong.
Bolen tells Shipman he was jaywalking, and then threatens to arrest him and slap him with a fine.
"That's a $65 ticket a piece," Bolen says. "Get to my car. You are being legally detained. If you disobey... I will put you in jail."
He then asks for Shipman's ID. When Shipman tells the officer he doesn't have it on him, Bolen cites a Florida law mandating residents must carry identification with them at all times. But, according to the Herald, that law doesn't exist.
"In the state of Florida, you have to have an ID card on you identifying who you are," Bolen says. "I can detain you up to seven hours until I can figure out who you are."
Shipman, who had already told the officer his first and last name, begged to differ.
"No sir," he says. "You cannot."
Florida, like many states, does mandate residents carry their driver's licenses whenever they're driving a car. But Shipman was just walking across the street. Still, Bolen issued him a $136 ticket for failing to provide ID, as well as a citation and a $62 fine for jaywalking.
"It's walking while black," local activist Diallo Sekou told the Florida Times-Union. "This is Jim Crow when it comes to these laws and ordinances in the city."
According to the Times-Union, the local sheriff's office is still reviewing the video, but police said Bolen isn't under investigation.
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