Walking while Black

[spuwho]

Gotta say, this JSO Officer must have been having a bad day because if they cited Jacksonville residents for 'jaywalking' at the moment it occurs, our officer friendlies would be tied up in the courts day and night. 

And can someone help me on this one? Florida has a law that requires you to carry an ID all the time?  What if I was walking home from playing ball at the courts in the middle of the day?  I have to have an ID to walk home?  This doesn't seem right.

Per the Times-Union:

http://jacksonville.com/news/public-safety/2017-06-26/video-shows-jacksonville-cop-threatening-young-black-man-jail-after

Video shows Jacksonville cop threatening young black man with jail after jaywalking

A viral video posted to Facebook last week shows a Jacksonville sheriff's officer threatening a young black man with jail time after he crossed the street without a walk signal.

The video shows Officer J.S. Bolen detaining Devonte Shipman and threatening to take him to jail for "disobeying a direct order" and "resisting without violence" after he stopped him over for jaywalking.

The Sheriff's Office said it is reviewing the video but that Bolen is not under investigation at the time. Bolen cited Shipman twice for failing to obey a walk signal and not having a license. Shipman's friend was also detained, but was not cited.

Shipman, 21, told the Times-Union he lives within walking distance of where the stop happened in Arlington. He said the officer approached in his car and told him and his friend to come over because they had just crossed the road against the signal. He contended that the signal was still blinking when they started walking and stopped halfway through.

Initially, Shipman said, he declined to approach the officer's car because he didn't understand why he was being stopped. As soon as the officer got out of his car, Shipman said, he started recording.

"There's no way I was disrespectful or anything to make this man react the way he did, period," Shipman said.

In the video, Bolen tells Shipman he is being detained for crossing the street outside the crosswalk and not waiting for the signal. He orders him to wait by his patrol vehicle.

"If you don't, I'm going to put you in jail," Bolen says. "So go to my car."

Shipman calmly questions Bolen, who appears agitated in the video. He tells the officer that he's not resisting and walks over to Bolen's car with him. Bolen continues to threatens to detain him, for "up to seven hours," while he figures out his identity because Shipman doesn't have his license on him. Shipman volunteered his name and date of birth when asked.

The Sheriff's Office cited Florida statute 322.15(1) as to why Shipman was given a citation, but the statute only applies to drivers, not pedestrians. It states that every licensee must have his or her license on them "when operating a motor vehicle."

Shipman said he was as calm as possible and recorded the encounter out of fear it might turn violent, because of how upset the officer seemed.

"If you look at the video, if you pay attention to his body language, he's grabbing his hands like he wanted to do something to me," Shipman said. "I didn't escalate the situation. I was trying to figure out what I did wrong."

Diallo Sekou, a grassroots black activist who is running for Katrina Brown's seat on the city council, said these types of pedestrian infractions are routinely handed out in the city's black communities. He said reshaping those policies is one of the reasons he decided to run for office.

"It's walking while black," Sekou said. "This is Jim Crow when it comes to these laws and ordinances in the city."

When Shipman questions what he did that was illegal, Bolen states again that he crossed against the walk signal. Shipman says he simply wasn't paying attention.

"You act like I really just committed a serious crime that's worth this time right now," Shipman says.

Bolen counters that "it is worth the time."

"There was two cars that were coming through the intersection that had to slow down," Bolen says in the video. "They had the right of way, not you."

As the two argue, another person crosses the street and is not detained for it.

The video comes as the Sheriff's Office prepares to roll out its pilot program for body cameras in early July. But it's unclear whether this type of situation would have required the officer to record the encounter.

Shipman appears incredulous throughout the video.

"Three cop cars, all because we crossed the mother——ing street though," Shipman says. "We crossed the street, that's all we did."

Shipman said he has no intention of paying either citation and that he and the officer already spoke about meeting again in court.

"He was like, 'I hope you take that option to take it to court,'" Shipman said, "'Because I promise you I'm going to be there.'"

[remc86007]

To my knowledge, there is no FL law requiring one to carry identification.

[Adam White]

Yeah, the video was making the rounds on Facebook last week. It was a video from Al-Jazeera, I think.

I believe there are two separate issues:

1) Jaywalking
2) the police officer's conduct.

I have no issue with the guy being ticketed for jaywalking. One commenter (from Jax) had mentioned that the video didn't show what had led to the incident - apparently they disrupted traffic or something. Not sure if that is true. But the police officer was very unprofessional. If he had kept a calm demeanor and just ticketed the guy, it wouldn't have been anything. They guy probably wouldn't have appreciated it, but it would've been fair.

Whether or not he was targeted because he is black is something that we'll never know. As a friend pointed out, Jax cops have always been dicks to young people of all races. Maybe he wouldn't have stopped and ticketed an affluent white person. Who knows.

[Adam White]

A second point - who cares if he was disrespectful? (I don't think he was, based on the video).

Cops are trained to deal with all sorts of people. Or should be. He should've just smiled and issued the ticket. It's not or shouldn't be about respecting the police officer's authority.

[Jim]

3 squad cars for jaywalking is excessive.  And not ticketing another person who was jaywalking during the incident just baffles the mind.  And you also get a fake FL law thrown in for good measure.

[Gunnar]

A second point - who cares if he was disrespectful? (I don't think he was, based on the video).

Cops are trained to deal with all sorts of people. Or should be. He should've just smiled and issued the ticket. It's not or shouldn't be about respecting the police officer's authority.

That reminds me of what a friend (former cop) told me a couple of years ago: He said that the golden rule was that you could either be rude to someone or given them a ticket. but not both at the same time. In this case, no one would complain.

[Adam White]

A second point - who cares if he was disrespectful? (I don't think he was, based on the video).

Cops are trained to deal with all sorts of people. Or should be. He should've just smiled and issued the ticket. It's not or shouldn't be about respecting the police officer's authority.

That reminds me of what a friend (former cop) told me a couple of years ago: He said that the golden rule was that you could either be rude to someone or given them a ticket. but not both at the same time. In this case, no one would complain.

It seems to me that many (certainly not all, though) American cops are just unbelievably rude to the public. It's like they have some sort of weird sense of entitlement. They go on about "protect and serve" but they don't always live up to the motto. I guess there's bad apples in every basket. And law enforcement sometimes attracts the wrong kinds of people. But still - it was jaywalking. He'd have accomplished more if his attitude was better.

Oh - and if he didn't decide to make up laws on the spot. That might've helped, too.

[remc86007]

It's definitely a "bad apples" problem. The stresses of the job combined with the highly visible nature of their work exposes the bad apples like few other lines of work do. I've met some awful police officers (a minority), the not particularly friendly but not rude either (the majority), and some extraordinarily kind and helpful (another minority). The latter kind likely do the most good in the community. I used to think the cop trying to be everyone's friend thing was silly, but I've grown to appreciate it. I think it's about the most effective method of policing there is.

[Noone]

This Jaywalking crime has been discussed at a meeting before. You want a walkable city but don't cross in the middle of the street.
How about this darting across 2,3,4 lanes of traffic?
How much is the ticket?

[spuwho]

Per the Times-Union:

http://jacksonville.com/news/public-safety/2017-07-05/jacksonville-sheriff-s-office-drops-1-2-tickets-jaywalking-case

Jacksonville Sheriff's Office drops 1 of 2 tickets in jaywalking case



The Jacksonville Sheriff's Office dropped one of the traffic tickets issued last month to a 21-year-old man who was stopped in Arlington for jaywalking in a recorded incident that went viral.


Officer J.S. Bolen cited Devonte Xaviar Shipman for failing to obey a walk signal and not having a driver's license during the June 20 encounter on Arlington Road off the Arlington Expressway.

Video taken by Shipman and uploaded to Facebook shows Bolen detaining Shipman under threat of arrest for "disobeying a direct order" and "resisting without violence," as Shipman questions the reasons for the stop.

Court records show the Sheriff's Office filed an affidavit June 30 to void the license citation, saying it was "issued in error" — but a separate citation for jaywalking still stands.

The state law cited by police for the dropped ticket only applies to drivers, not pedestrians. It states that every licensee must have his or her license on them "when operating a motor vehicle."

"The citations issued were reviewed. The statute number used for this citation was inaccurate. Due to the error, the citation was voided," said Sheriff's Office spokeswoman Melissa Bujeda.

Bujeda said the Sheriff's Office is aware of the widely circulated video documenting the encounter and "an administrative review is being conducted."

Reached Wednesday, Shipman said the Sheriff's Office called him to let him know about the dropped citation. He intends to fight the standing ticket when he is due in court July 20.

"If they were smart, they would have dropped both," Shipman said. "I mean I'm kind of upset that they dropped that one because I planned on taking it to court to make the officer look stupid."

Shipman said the crosswalk signal was still blinking as he crossed the road. Based on where the officer's vehicle was, he said, he would not have been able to tell otherwise.

He also wondered why he was the only person ticketed. A friend with him at the time was detained but not cited. Another person was captured on video jaywalking as Shipman and Bolen argued.

Shipman said the encounter is a clear example of racial profiling. He noted that something similar is unlikely to happen in Ponte Vedra Beach and other affluent communities. "They pick on poverty," he said.

In response, Bujeda said, "We are aware of the video and an administrative review is being conducted. Any and all information in reference to the ongoing review is confidential per Florida Statute 112.533(2)(a) until the review is no longer active."

[spuwho]

Shipman said the crosswalk signal was still blinking as he crossed the road. Based on where the officer's vehicle was, he said, he would not have been able to tell otherwise.

All you have to do is make a motion to acquire his squad car video recording.  If the camera can't see the crosswalk flashing, neither can the officer.

I am going to guess that Shipman stepped out while it was still flashing, but at the very end of allotted time.  By the time he reached the lanes on the other side, cars who just got the green light had to slow down until he finished crossing and that is what Officer Bolen saw and rushed to cite him.

[strider]

There are intersections in Jacksonville that if you start walking when the sign says walk, you can not make it across before it turns don't walk.  I would also assume that in most intersections, if you start at the end of go (green), you will not make it across before it turns red.  Plus, in some cases, the cars turning left have the green when you have the walk.  The pedestrian then has to stop for the cars as they are crossing just about guaranteeing that they will still be crossing when it turns red. Then consider the right turn on red cars.  If they wish to enforce jaywalking at intersections like this, they need to insure the pedestrian has the right of way and enough time to safely cross.  However that would hold up a car or three and who wants that, right? 

[Adam White]

Jaywalking laws are to protect both pedestrians and motorists. But I agree - they need to sort out those crosswalks. That is all too common these days - crossing signals that are too short to reasonably cross. And if you're older, you're basically stuffed.

[jlmann]

There are intersections in Jacksonville that if you start walking when the sign says walk, you can not make it across before it turns don't walk

for reals?  seems like around the core theyre absurdly long.  a normal person could easily cross riverside ave twice on the Brooklyn stretch.  I swear the fis employees crossing at the stupid light by ram can about get to their desk by the time that thing changes. dt more than enough too

[AKIRA]

The length of time depends on whether or not you pushed the button.  Less time if you don't push; more time if you do.

Either way, the ped. was wrong.  He deserved the ticket.