US police officers pull over black state attorney in Florida
ORLANDO: A pair of police officers caught themselves on camera struggling to explain why they had pulled over Florida’s first and only black state attorney.
Aramis Ayala, who serves as state attorney in the Sunshine State’s ninth Judicial Circuit, was pulled over on June 19.
As the officer approaches her window in the footage, she can be seen taking her licence from her wallet, which she then hands over to him.
When he asks what agency she works for, she responds: “I’m the state attorney”.
The officer immediately launches into an explanation for the stop, explaining that he ran the tags on her car and received no result.
Ayala asked: “What was the tag run for?”
The officer then begins to stumble, saying: “Oh we run tags through all the time, whether it’s a traffic light and that sort of stuff. That’s how we figure out if cars are stolen and that sort of thing.”
“Also, the windows are really dark. I don’t have a tint measure, but that’s another reason for the stop,” he said.
The state attorney, visibly annoyed, asks for the officers’ cards. Neither had them available, so they wrote their contact information on a piece of paper.
The Orlando Police Department said that it “allows the running of tags for official business only, and this is done routinely on patrol”.
“In regards to the video, which was released by the Orlando Police Department last month, the officers stated that the tag did not come back as registered to any vehicle. As you can see in the video, the window tint was dark, and officers would not have been able to tell who, or how many people, were in the vehicle,” a statement said.
No complaint had been filed over the stop, police said.
Ayala, a career public defender, ran for state attorney on a platform of transparency and a promise to bridge gaps with communities of colour.
In a statement, Ayala said she had “violated no laws”.
“The licence plate, while confidential, was and remains properly registered... The tint was in no way a violation of Florida law,” she said.
“My goal is to have a constructive and mutually respectful relationship between law enforcement and the community.
“I look forward to sitting down to have an open dialogue with the chief of the Orlando Police Department.” – The Independent