Man cited for jaywalking wants officer disciplined

A man stopped by a North Florida cop and cited for walking without an ID and threatened with jail says he would like to see the officer kicked off the force.

Devonte Shipman, 21, of Jacksonville, said Sheriff’s Officer J.S. Bolen deserves to be disciplined after Bolen threatened to put him in jail after a jaywalking stop.

And for not having his drivers license on him even though the 21-year-old wasn’t driving.

“I never knew anybody who got stopped for jaywalking,” Shipman said last week. “I didn’t know you could be stopped for jaywalking. I thought, ‘How can itbe a crime if yousee it done so often?’ ”

When he got across the road, Bolenwaswaiting.

“Just from everything that’s been going on nowadays with police and civilians, Iwanted to make sure Iwas recorded,” he said.

As Bolen accuses Shipman of jaywalking, orders him to the police car, threatens to arrest him for resisting arrest without violence and tells Shipman (incorrectly) Florida law states he must have identification on him at all times, Shipman said, “I was unsure of the whole situation. I didn’t know why he stopped me. I’m thinking, what did I do? You can’t take me to jail just because you feel like it.”

Bolen eventually gave Shipman tickets for jaywalking and not carrying his drivers’ license and exhibiting it on demand. On the ticket for the latter, Bolen wrote the statute applied as 322.15. That statute applies only to those driving.

In answer to a voice mail inquiring if Shipman’s video was under review or if Bolenwas under investigation, Officer Melissa J. Bujeda e-mailed the Miami Herald, “It violates the law forus to identify any officer under investigation.”