U.S.

Split Verdict For Traffic-Stop Cop

By CBSNews.com staff CBSNews.com staff

April 3, 1998 / 9:13 AM EST / CBS

Confronted with issues of race and police tactics, a jury Friday convicted a black Miami-Dade police major of resisting an arrest by white deputies but acquitted him of more serious battery charges.

A smiling Aaron Campbell hugged his wife and daughter after hearing the verdict. He claimed he was stopped illegally because his race and his Miami-Dade license tag fit a profile that Orlando deputies use to stop drug suspects. Critics derisively call the purported crime "driving while black."

"There are entirely too many citizens who are subjected to this kind of thing and surrender their rights," Campbell said outside court. "There are going to be other people that this is going to happen to, and the result could possibly be a lot more serious."

The jury of a black man, a white woman and four white men acquitted Campbell of two felony counts of battery but found him guilty of two misdemeanor counts of resisting arrest.

Campbell, 55, will likely face no jail time since he has no prior criminal record. The conviction carries a possible sentence of up to a year in the county jail and a $1,000 fine.

The Miami-Dade police department, which suspended Campbell without pay after his arrest, is conducting an investigation to decide whether Campbell can return to his job.

"Do you want your police officers taking that kind of action, on duty or off duty?" said Miami-Dade police spokesman Pat Brickman of the confrontational stop. "Was his conduct what we expect of our officers? That's what the director will look at it."

Orange County sheriff's deputies denied using racial profiles and said Campbell was stopped because of an improper lane change and because part of his license tag was obscured. But Circuit Judge Thomas Mihok concluded during trial that the stop was illegal.

"The thing that hurt us the most is the allegations of racism when it's not true," said Cmdr. Steve Jones, a sheriff's office spokesman.

The highway encounter between the polo-shirt clad, 27-year police veteran was taped by a patrol-car camera and later broadcast nationwide. During the weeklong trial, jurors attentively watched the 20-minute video three times.

After being pulled over by Cpl. Richard Mankewich on Florida's Turnpike, Campbell identified himself as a police officer, swore when he was told why he was stopped, snatched his driver's license off the deputy's clipboard and demanded to talk to a supervisor.

Mankewich asked for the license back and called for backup. After others arrived, the deputies told Campbell to put his arms in the air and warned him they would use spray if he didn't obey.

As Campbell sat on a guardrail, a deputy sprayed him with the eye-stinging pepper spray. Campbell jumped up, turned away with his head bowed and moved toward his vehicle before Deputy Vincent Van Ness jumped on Campbell's back.

Turning a popular phrase on its hea, Campbell said outside the courthouse, "I will not be going to Disney World." Planning his own boycott of the Orlando area, he said, "The only way I will come here is for business."