Advocates: ‘Match the description’ tactics harmful
Ian Adams and Jonathan Medina were riding their bicycles home from a 7-Eleven just before midnight in late April when police officers stopped and held them at gunpoint on West Oak Ridge Road, ordering Medina to crawl toward them on his arms and knees.
Adams, 33, and Medina, 20, who hadn’t broken any laws, were later let go with an apology and told they were stopped because they matched the suspect description of two Black men on bicycles given by the victim of a robbery that had occurred in the area earlier that night. The officers also said the victim reported the robbers claimed to have a gun.
Videos of the April 19 incident, which came amid an ongoing national reckoning with discriminatory policing practices, went viral on TikTok, with many accusing the officers of racial bias. In an interview, Adams said the officers should’ve approached him
and Medina peacefully and spoken to them with decency.
“You shouldn’t be pointing no gun at me, I don’t care what information you have,” Adams said.
Heidi Rodriguez, a spokesperson for the Orlando Police Department, said no violations of policy occurred and officers had reasonable cause to detain the two men. But social justice advocates say so-called “match the description” tactics such as these can have long-term consequences within historically marginalized communities — and traumatize those subjected to them.
“For something like this to become a part of your story, you got to figure out how to process that,” said David Hodge, operations coordinator for the Southern Poverty Law Center’s Civil Rights Memorial Center. “That’s a very tough thing to do, and it’s an unjust reality.”
‘This is not them’
Body-worn camera footage featured Adams and Medina handcuffed and sitting on the sidewalk surrounded by about eight officers. At about 11:55 p.m., one of the officers who had drawn their weapon earlier appeared to receive radio confirmation that one of the stolen items, an Apple watch, had pinged at West Oak Ridge Road and John Young Parkway.
“They’re gone bro, they’re gone,” the officer said. “This is not them.”
The officer later apologized and released Medina and Adams, who by then had been detained for more than an hour. Adams rejected the apology.
“There’s nothing you can tell me,” Adams said. “You can’t say sorry, you can’t say nothing, because if he had shot me, no one would have known about this.”
Adams said he has watched instances like these in the news and is stunned it happened to him. He also argues the officers acted on a flawed description.
Body-worn camera footage recorded a few minutes
FILE before the incident, about 11:41 p.m., showed an officer questioning the robbery victim, Jonathan Rojas, about the two men who had taken his wallet, Sony camera and Apple watch. Rojas told the officers he remembered a bike and two Black men wearing shorts but was thrown to the ground and wasn’t sure about the full description.
A witness told officers that one of the suspects wore light-colored pants and white shoes. In an interview, Adams said he wore bleached jeans with reflective shoes that appear white in the light. He said his bike and shoes are reflective so drivers can see him at night.
In another body-worn camera video released by OPD, an officer told Adams that he also matched the description of one of the robbery suspects because he was shirtless, and Medina fit the other’s description because he was wearing a gray or white shirt.
Rodriguez said all of the clothing details relayed by officers to Adams were provided to them by the witness.
“Cops just need to chill out, honestly, because you don’t know who is who and you can’t just run around and do what you want to people,” Adams said.
In May 2019, officers arrested Adams for refusing to stop his bicycle along the same road, West Oak Ridge Road, and Millenia Boulevard.
According to an arrest report, an officer in a patrol car blocked the sidewalk after Adams and his friends refused to stop, and pulled out his Taser, commanding Adams to get on the ground. The report said Adams attempted to leave, saying he “didn’t do anything,” and the officer stunned him with the Taser. Adams was arrested on the charge of resisting an officer without violence. Prosecutors declined to file charges and his case was closed.
Adams filed a lawsuit in February against the officers involved in the 2019 arrest, records show, also naming OPD Chief Orlando Rolón as a defendant. The suit accuses police of false arrest, unreasonable seizure, battery and excessive force. In a court filing, the defendants denied wrongdoing.
During the confrontation last month, Adams said he was hesitant to comply because even following police orders can lead to unexpected consequences.
“With how this world is going, you don’t got to do nothing for the cops to shoot you,” Adams said.
Medina said when he was pulled over, he could only think of his mother and 15-year-old sister.
“I’ll do whatever you want me to do, but don’t shoot me,” Medina said.
He said he has nightmares about the moment when officers drew their guns and dwells on what could have happened that day. Adams and Medina have not filed a complaint with OPD, but Adams said he wants to file a lawsuit.
Professor: ‘Accountability has to go both ways’
R a n d y N e l s o n , Bethune-Cookman University associate professor of criminal justice, said he would have felt similarly to Adams and Medina if he found himself in their position but also understands the officers made tactical decisions for their own safety.
The encounter was an example of what’s known as a Terry stop, so named after the U.S. Supreme Court case Terry vs. Ohio, which established that police can stop and frisk someone they reasonably suspect has committed a crime and may be armed.
An officer must rely on personal observation and knowledge from other officers to form the basis for a Terry stop, according to the OPD search and seizures training bulletin.
Profiling based on ethnicity alone is illegal. Based on an officer’s training and experience, an officer can conduct lawful “profiling” based on a collection of innocent actions that lead to suspicion, according to the training bulletin.
Nelson, who is Black, said that, while in college, he drove a white sports car and was stopped because it fit the description of a stolen vehicle.
“You often see on the media ‘unarmed Black male shot by police,” Nelson said. ”You never hear on the media ‘unarmed white male shot by the police.’ ” So, I think that our experience as African American males, we know what it feels like to be discriminated against.”
Nelson said today, because of high-profile incidents reported in the media and individual experiences, police officers don’t get the benefit of the doubt. But Nelson also said police
officers need to reconcile with the history of policing, which in the South has roots stretching back to slave patrols.
“Accountability has to go both ways,” he said.
Nelson began a partnership with the city of Orlando in September to improve engagement and relationships between OPD and predominantly Black neighborhoods, such as Parramore and Washington Shores.
Nelson led police training and community sessions with youth aimed to strengthen the relationship between the public and the police. He said community discourse is vital to fostering a better relationship. Nelson said he’d fight for officers who risk their lives every day, just like he’d fight for community members who face discrimination.
“I’ll be the first one to get out there to march if law enforcement violate their oath and their trust in the community,” he said.
Attorney: ‘Proactive’ supervision needed
Hodge said most of his family and friends have either experienced profiling or know someone who has. To encourage change, he said people must engage in anti-racist dialogue, particularly examining the historic roots of systemic racism and its present-day occurrences.
Hodge said that these experiences are trauma-inducing
and can have ripple effects among family and friends.
Jerry Girley, an attorney who specializes in police brutality and civil rights, said an officer drew his gun on him when he was heading home from school at 15 years old. He said his 38-year-old son has had a gun pulled four different times during traffic situations.
Girley said getting pulled over is traumatizing and can be a life-or-death situation, referencing the shooting of 42-year-old Andrew Brown Jr. who was shot in the back of his head as he attempted to drive away from North Carolina officers, according to attorneys for Brown’s family.
“I’m a 60-year-old Black man living in America right now, If I’m driving down Highway 50 and if the police follow me for more than three blocks, I’m tensing up,” Girley said.
Girley found the TikTok of the two cyclists disrespectful and said police departments need to establish civilian oversight boards with subpoena power to monitor and review officers’ actions. OPD has a citizen review board, but it lacks the ability to subpoena officers to testify.
“We don’t need another march, we don’t need another banner. We don’t need chalk written on the street. We don’t need that,” he said. “We need proactive, effective, fair and neutral supervision.”