I Was Wrongly Arrested for Armed Bank Robbery Because I am a Tall, Black Man

[xchrom]

http://www.alternet.org/i-was-wrongly-arrested-armed-bank-robbery-because-i-am-tall-black-man




On Friday afternoon, August 22nd around 5:20 p.m., while innocently walking by myself from a restaurant on Wilshire Blvd., to my car up LaCienega Blvd my freedom was taken from me by the Beverly Hills Police Department.

Within seconds, I was detained and told to sit on the curb of the very busy street, during rush hour traffic.

Within minutes, I was surrounded by 6 police cars, handcuffed very tightly, fully searched for weapons, and placed back on the curb.

Within an hour, I was transported to the Beverly Hills Police Headquarters, photographed, finger printed and put under a $100,000 bail and accused of armed bank robbery and accessory to robbery of a Citibank.

[Heidi]

1. Kick, kick, kick!!!

And mornin', sunshine!

[xchrom]

2. i just love it when you check in!

AIR KISSES!

[Heidi]

4. I just love it when I have a good reason to check in,

like the excellent threads that you and madokie post! Happy Thursday, dah-link! :smooch:

[grahamhgreen]

3. TV producer coming from the Emmy's, I believe

[malaise]

6. None of that matters

He's black

[intaglio]

5. Thanks for this

Also posted by sakabatou in this thread Walking While Black: Beverly Hills PD Arrests Innocent Black Man
In that thread one poster thought we "Be careful on this story something seems off" despite downwinder already having found the booking number from the PD site and despite Mr Belk and also despite Mr Belk having a fine mini-bio on IMDb.

[Enthusiast]

7. Kicked and recommended!

Thank you, xchrom.

[littlemissmartypants]

8. Kicking in honor of bigtree. eom

[xchrom]

9. ...

[Starry Messenger]

10. K&R

[Uben]

11. It can happen to anybody.....

I had a friend back in the early eighties who was falsely arrested for armed robbery. He was released 6 months later when the real robber confessed to the crime after being arrested for another robbery.

It all started when he whipped into a convenience store for a pack of smokes. Inside, he noticed no one behind the counter, so he waited a couple of minutes and then left the store. He was oblivious to what had occurred just moments before he pulled into the store.
A man in a ski mask had robbed the clerk at gunpoint, placed him in the rear of the store and told him not to come out or he would shoot him. He then left quickly. About the time the clerk came from the rear of the store, he saw my friend leaving the parking lot, squealing the tires as he left. HE called the police, gave them the car description, and the description of the clothes the perp was wearing. My friend was arrested less than two miles from the store, no money was found, no clothes matching the description. He was given a lie-detector test, which they say he failed, which led to charges and jail. He sat in that cell for 6 months because he didn't have bail money. Had the real robber not confessed, he might still be in prison.

After that, I swore I would never take a lie-detector test. They are very inaccurate.

At the time, my friend was a long-haired white 20 something male. The store clerk never saw the robbers face or his hair because of the ski mask. Circumstantial evidence led to 6 months in jail.

[kcr]

12. Winning the lottery can happen to anyone

That isn't the point. No one is saying it never happens to white people.

[Uben]

13. I understand that....

...and I didn't mean to imply profiling doesn't exist. It was more to just show we are all vulnerable to false arrests and imprisonment because of poor law enforcement tactics. It was less than five minutes after the clerk had called it in that he was pulled over and arrested. Wrong clothes, no money, no description, only the clerk's seeing him leave the lot was the only tie to the robbery.

Back in those days in small town Texas, long-hairs were profiled. We were pulled over sometimes days in a row! I had been pulled over, for no reason, more than once on the same day! It was just something we had to live with because no amount of complaints did any good. I have never been arrested, no criminal record at all, short of two speeding tickets and a seat belt violation.

[kcr]

14. Agreed on the poor law enforcement tactics

No one should have a false sense of security, of course.

[dickthegrouch]

15. I've always wondered how lie detectors tell the difference between

a real liar who is nervous and an innocent person who *really needs* to be believed.
It is almost impossible IMHO to devise a control test which will work. People who are lying to create the so-called control group have no real skin in the game. Someone who is actually lying to try to protect themselves from jail has a much different reaction. Someone who is desperate to be believed in the face of extreme hostility and 'absolute certainty' by the cops that they've got the correct person (even in the face of significant contra-indicators), is likely to show the same reaction.

I wouldn't trust a lie detector as far as I could throw it.