Miami Man Suing Police Over Incident Where He Called Police For Help – NBC 6 South Florida

A police encounter from more than two years ago is now heading to federal court. Plaintiff Samuel Scott spoke out and told NBC 6 what he hopes to accomplish by suing the officers who arrested him. 

It was June 2018, when body cam video showed Samuel Scott being arrested.

In the back of the patrol car, Scott’s message to officers. “This is real messed up,” he said.

Scott says none of that should have happened as he was the victim who called police to say his car was stolen, yet somehow, he was the one arrested. The police report said Scott hit another car, fled the scene, and filed a false police report saying the car was stolen. He told NBC 6 at the time, “Don’t know how, but they say I did it.”

The State Attorney dropped the charges. Now, Scott has filed a lawsuit in federal court saying the city and the officers violated his civil rights.

“They could have just talked to me and found out that, no, I’m not the guy,” Scott said.

Scott and his attorney Fraudlin Pierre spoke exclusively with NBC 6 Wednesday.

Both are hoping the lawsuit improves policing in Miami.  “Change. I hope that they change their tactics. You know, listen to people. You don’t have to go with vengeance and everything because sometimes it’s not the story that you have made up in your mind,” Scott said. 

“He was a black man in a black shirt in a black neighborhood. The people that he was asking for assistance made him out to be the perpetrator. And I think we need to rethink policing in America especially in neighborhoods of color,” Attorney Pierre said.

Scott also said he went to police to get his wallet back, the one seen on one officer’s cameras, but Scott says it never showed up in the police department’s inventory. The department did find that one officer violated policy by turning his camera off and on during the time with Scott, and another officer violated the policy by never turning the camera on in the first place.

Scott’s lawyer said Wednesday that Scott never got his wallet back. 

He also said that he was actually standing with an officer who responded to his call while other officers were pursuing his stolen car, making the arrest even more puzzling to him.

We asked the City of Miami Police Department about these allegations and they have a policy of not commenting when litigation is ongoing.

The post Miami Man Suing Police Over Incident Where He Called Police For Help – NBC 6 South Florida first appeared on Daily Florida Press.

from Daily Florida Press https://dailyfloridapress.com/miami-man-suing-police-over-incident-where-he-called-police-for-help-nbc-6-south-florida/