Lasou Kuyateh was pulled over in New York, supposedly for turning without signaling. When police searched his vehicle on a suspicion they’d find drugs, an officer’s body camera conveniently went off for several minutes before coming back on just in time for him to supposedly “find” a blunt!
The blunt was “in plain sight” – but hadn’t been found by a previous officer who searched the same area. The bodycam did overhear officers saying they “have to find something,” though. This kind of targeting isn’t exclusive to New York.
In Miami, where 85% of crimes go UNSOLVED, officers spend their time harassing, profiling, and arresting Black people – and also planting evidence! Policing in Baltimore is also extremely racially biased, but here’s something else they do.
Baltimore’s police have made a CAREER out of planting evidence. In 2018, it was reported during a major corruption trial that they kept replica guns to plant on people in case they shot someone! In 2014, former Sgt. Keith Gladstone planted a gun on someone one of his fellow officers RAN OVER to justify his colleague’s crime. This highlights an everyday reality of police abuse.
Not everyone incarcerated has done something harmful. Police specifically target Black people who they know will be blamed and discriminated against by the criminal legal system – and even literally set us up.