Vet Ticketed For Walking On Wrong Side Of Street
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DALLAS (CBS11) - Stopped by Dallas Police for walking on the wrong side of the road, a local homeless veteran said he feels he was given a citation and was targeted because of his race.
Charles Bell said he was stopped by Dallas Police in West Dallas as he walked to work. He was walking along a road that did not have any sidewalks. When he crossed the street, two officers stopped him.
"I thought it was possible I wouldn't make it off that corner," said Bell.
Given recent events involving African Americans like Sandra Bland, he recorded the stop.
"That's the only reason why y'all stopped me?" questioned Bell.
The officer then replied to Bell.
"That and the chief said this is the highest crime beat in the city and he wants is to talk to everybody we can find a reason to talk to," replied the officer.
It is true that the area Bell was stopped in is considered a "high crime" beat. Bell feels have two officers respond, then a third was excessive. He feels it was harassing and profiling.
"It makes me feel like I'm not welcome in my own hometown. Like I'm not even allowed to walk the street," said Bell.
Dallas police declined to comment on camera. Law enforcement experts in Dallas do not see the stop as profiling.
"It was a high crime area, they had a reason to detain him. I didn't see anything that would have said to me that this was race based," said Pete Schulte, an Attorney and former McKinney police officer.
Schulte said if officers are targeting a high crime area, they are going to stop anyone for anything. He said the strict enforcement usually works in those areas.
"This has been going on for 300 years with officers. But now that everyone has a camera, everyone is a reporter, now it's coming to light. Nothing new," said Schulte.
While Schulte feels the stop went too long, had Bell cooperated better he might not have walked away with a ticket.
Bell feels it said that is easy to say when people are not walking in his shoes.
"Why don't they try coming out here walking and dealing with the same thing? I mean, they're not the ones getting treated like they're not people," said Bell. In a statement, Dallas Police said it did not find and departmental violations when viewing the video.
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