Florida Cop Tickets Black Man for Walking Without ID

Last week, a Jacksonville officer stopped a 21-year-old black man for jaywalking.

In the incident, which was recorded and posted on Facebook, officer J.S. Bolen approached Devonte Shipman and accused him and his friend of jaywalking. In the video, Shipman can be heard calmly asking the officer what he did wrong, to which Bolen replied, “Take your camera and point it across there at the red hand,” adding that Shipman and his friend cross the street at the wrong time.

Shipman then apologized to the officer, who then warned the man of the consequences of jaywalking; a $65 fine. Shortly after, Bolen demanded that Shipman get in the police car, to which Shipman refused. But when Bolen threatened to arrest him and throw him in jail for resisting an officer without violence, Shipman complied.

“Get to my car,” Bolen said. “You are being legally detained. If you disobey…I will put you in jail.”

As Shipman motioned toward the police car, the officer asked for his ID. When Shipman failed to provide one, Bolen revealed that no ID warrants detention, despite the fact that that is not true.

“That’s another infraction. In the state of Florida, you have to have an ID card on you identifying who you are or I can detain you for seven hours until I figure out who you are.”

The incident left Shipman with a ticket for violated Florida Statue 322.15, which says licensees, must have their driver license while operating a vehicle, which is a $136 ticket. He also received a ticket for failing to obey a pedestrian control sign, for $62.

Now, Shipman wants Bolen to be disciplined, as police continue to investigate the situation.

“Either he gets suspended from the force, so he has to go to another county and we don’t have to deal with him in our community. Or he just has to get fired, period,” he said.