Entrapment at its best??

By: Eric Pierson

Recently I drove from work to my home to find multiple officers sitting half a block from my home in different directions at approximately 2:45 am. I had broke no laws to warrant being pulled over. I tried to record the conversation with the officer that talked to me, but the audio wasn’t clear. At first, he said he pulled me over because he recognized me. All the windows on my vehicle are tinted, no possible way the officer could make me out in the dark. After I questioned that he said he recognized my white stalking cap from when he drove by my work and I was outside smoking. I explained to him that the stalking cap was in the truck all night and I was wearing a black ball cap all night.

Then he tried to tell me that he had a report from last week that I drove a black truck to work. This was the first time I had ever even drove the truck. Though I have no way of proving this, my work is an after hours club on the weekend and opens Wednesdays for 18 & up college parties. It is regularly harassed by the local police and they have openly said they want it shut down. I am the manager of this establishment and an obvious target.

They asked me many times to come out of the club for an alcohol test that I have never failed. This time being pulled over I demanded a legit reason for being pulled over and got none. I was told they were parked there waiting for me to come home though. I said the whole situation was ridiculous and they refused to do any alcohol tests. Instead, they charged me with DUI, on the bases that I had bloodshot eyes. Since then, all that accomplished was an increase in police traffic on a non-busy street around my start and end times. Their only other reason was that the officer said I smelled like alcohol. I showed him where a patron of the after hours club spilled his drink down the outside of my leg and agreed that I could smell of alcohol, but my breathe certainly does not.

Any thoughts or help on a way to beat this and get the harassment to stop?

This post was sent to CopBlock.org via our ‘submit a post’ tab, please consider sharing your encounters, ideas and tactics to hold police accountable by clicking here.

Eric, sadly when the police target you there is no other way to protect yourself than to record it, IMO, because if it comes down to your word against theirs, you’ll lost every time. I’d suggest keeping a camera in your car, getting some sort of live streaming app on your smart phone and submitting those video/audio recordings to CopBlock.org. This way those who feel the same way as you do about your harassment can par take in call floods, as well as sharing your content, to help you win in the court of public opinion. Or, even if they don’t back off, you’ll have peace of mind knowing you didn’t let their actions go unnoticed. 

Which is my second suggestion, not only for you but those who submit post in the future, be sure to get as much information about the officer as possible. Using the above story as an example, the reader has no idea what department this was, which officer or any information at all. Be as detailed as possible. If some of this information was there I’d consider calling the department to inquire about your treatment, but I can’t do what I don’t know.

What suggestions do you have for Eric? 

[Text in italics was written by Ademo]