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Wrong-Way Walking Stops Stir Profiling Worries

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By MICHAEL A. SCARCELLA

Sarasota Herald-Tribune

Published: May 25, 2008

BRADENTON — Civil rights leaders are pressuring the Bradenton Police Department to end the practice of stopping walkers at night in one part of the city for not using sidewalks and for walking on the wrong side of the road.

Several recent cases, including a man who is suing the Bradenton Police Department after he was stopped, have generated criticism and spurred dialogue about little-known pedestrian violations that are enforced primarily in a poor section of this city.

Police defend the tactic, calling the stops a lawful, appropriate tool in combating drugs and interfering with criminal activity. Critics, including defense attorneys and the Southern Christian Leadership Conference, a civil rights group, say the stops target minorities in an area where pedestrians are common.

A review of 30 recent pedestrian cases in which the person was walking on the wrong side of the road shows more than half of the walkers were black or Latino men walking between 10 p.m. and 5 a.m. in Ward 5, which includes the 14th Street West corridor and side streets that often do not have sidewalks.

"We don't want to be in a position where this can be perceived as racial profiling," Ward 5 Councilman Harold Byrd said. "When serving and protecting goes over to harassment, that's when we need to be careful. You want to be in the position of enforcing the laws we have without crossing into harassment territory."

Local members of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference are expected to meet with Bradenton Police Chief Michael Radzilowski this week to express their criticism of the pedestrian stops and seek resolution.

Charles Smith, chairman of the local chapter of the SCLC, said the chief would have the "benefit of the doubt," but the civil rights group, he said, must be convinced the pedestrian stops are not racially motivated.

"We will not tolerate racial profiling," Smith said.

A Bradenton teenager named Justin Claudio, 18, was cited this month for not walking on the left side of the road, facing oncoming traffic, on a block where there are no sidewalks. A week later, Claudio was stopped again in the 2000 block of 13th Street West.

Claudio ran from police the second time. He was arrested on charges of obstruction and culpable negligence - for exposing officers to injury. An officer, Anthony Ramdath, hurt his hand trying to jump over a fence to chase Claudio.

Earlier this year, police arrested Claudio in the same block on a cocaine possession charge. But police did not find any drugs on Claudio after the two pedestrian violations this month.

John L. Garvin, 51, a felon, was stopped last week; police say he was not using a sidewalk in the 1300 block of 21st Avenue West. Garvin said he was walking home, but an officer said Garvin's house was not in the direction in which he was walking.

Garvin initially refused to let an officer search him. But at some point, police say, Garvin agreed to a search. Police say they found drug paraphernalia. Garvin was arrested.

Councilwoman Marianne Barnebey said she supports the pedestrian stops because residents are tired of drugs and crime and want stepped-up, aggressive police patrols.

"There's not a lot of compassion out there for people who do not play by the rules," Barnebey said. "The police need every tool possible to keep our communities safe."

Radzilowski said an officer can walk up and chat with a person for any reason. But the person is free to leave a consensual encounter, and a person who is stopped does not have to allow an officer to search for drugs.

Bradenton resident Dwaine B. Copeland, 37, said he had no interest in talking to a police officer one night in February after Copeland was stopped for not using a sidewalk.

Copeland said he was walking to a store when a police officer pulled up and ordered him onto the sidewalk in the 200 block of 11th Avenue East.

Copeland, according to reports, got on the sidewalk and continued walking. The officer, Michael Page, ordered Copeland to stop to talk about the pedestrian violation.

There was nothing to talk about, Copeland told the officer. Page grabbed Copeland's arm, and the two wrestled. Copeland was arrested on charges of battery on an officer and resisting arrest.

But prosecutors declined to file charges against Copeland, saying he did not resist arrest and did not touch the officer, according to court records. Copeland was jailed for a month before a judge released him.

Copeland is suing the police department, saying Page unfairly stopped him and roughed him up.

"Officer Page was the judge and the jury," reads the complaint. "He tried and convicted Copeland that night on the street."

Police reviewed the case and found Page did not violate policy or state law. Copeland resisted arrest, Lt. Warren Merriman said in a memo.

Copeland, who is not represented by an attorney, is seeking damages for mental duress and the time he spent in jail.

"You can't put a price on a man's freedom," Copeland wrote in the lawsuit.

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