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Man Says He Was Detained For 6 Hours Because Police Wouldn’t Watch The Video Proving Him Innocent

ksen

ksen

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http://thinkprogress.org/justice/20...ecause-he-fit-profile-of-tall-black-and-bald/

Police were looking for a bank robber when they arrested Charles Belk on Friday night. The profile of the suspect was tall, black, and bald. And so is Belk. They were both wearing green shirts. That’s all the information they had. And that’s all the information they deemed necessary to hold Belk for six hours late Friday night, according to the accounts of Belk and his lawyer.

“It’s one of those things that you hear about, but never think it would happen to you,” Belk said in a Facebook post, highlighted by Crooks and Liars. Belk continues in the post:

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.

Within an evening, I was wrongly arrested, locked up, denied a phone call, denied explanation of charges against me, denied ever being read my rights, denied being able to speak to my lawyer for a lengthy time, and denied being told that my car had been impounded…..All because I was mis-indentified as the wrong “tall, bald head, black male,” … “fitting the description.”
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Belk is a well-connected film and television producer who was en route to an Emmy pre-party later that night. He notes that he “gets” the cops who cuffed him that night didn’t know he was an “award nominated and awarding winning business professional,” that he had been at “one of the finest hotels in their city,” just an hour earlier, and that he was a “well educated American citizen.” “What I don’t get………WHAT I DON”T GET,” he writes. “is, why, during the 45 minutes that they had me on the curb, handcuffed in the sun, before they locked me up and took away my civil rights, that they could not simply review the ATM and bank’s HD video footage to clearly see that the “tall, bald headed, black male”… did not fit MY description.”
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3 . . . 2 . . . 1 . . .
 
Wow, what an elitist snob. Just because he can tell two black people apart, all of a sudden everybody else is supposed to be able to do that as well?

Hopefully this incident will teach him a valuable lesson in getting over himself.
 
ksen said:
http://thinkprogress.org/justice/20...ecause-he-fit-profile-of-tall-black-and-bald/

Police were looking for a bank robber when they arrested Charles Belk on Friday night. The profile of the suspect was tall, black, and bald. And so is Belk. They were both wearing green shirts. That’s all the information they had. And that’s all the information they deemed necessary to hold Belk for six hours late Friday night, according to the accounts of Belk and his lawyer.

“It’s one of those things that you hear about, but never think it would happen to you,” Belk said in a Facebook post, highlighted by Crooks and Liars. Belk continues in the post:



Belk is a well-connected film and television producer who was en route to an Emmy pre-party later that night. He notes that he “gets” the cops who cuffed him that night didn’t know he was an “award nominated and awarding winning business professional,” that he had been at “one of the finest hotels in their city,” just an hour earlier, and that he was a “well educated American citizen.” “What I don’t get………WHAT I DON”T GET,” he writes. “is, why, during the 45 minutes that they had me on the curb, handcuffed in the sun, before they locked me up and took away my civil rights, that they could not simply review the ATM and bank’s HD video footage to clearly see that the “tall, bald headed, black male”… did not fit MY description.”
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3 . . . 2 . . . 1 . . .
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Normal operating procedures. Getting tapes and reviewing them takes time and are usually conducted by others than those who arrest. Too bad about the green shirt fella.

IOW nothing here.
 
fromderinside said:
Normal operating procedures. Getting tapes and reviewing them takes time and are usually conducted by others than those who arrest. Too bad about the green shirt fella.

IOW nothing here.
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Good point. Next time I rob a bank, I'm going to wear a business suit and do it downtown. With the police obligated to arrest and detain every one of the thousands of average-sized, brown-haired, white men in a suit within the area, there's a good chance I'll be able to slip through their net.
 
Tom Sawyer said:
fromderinside said:
Normal operating procedures. Getting tapes and reviewing them takes time and are usually conducted by others than those who arrest. Too bad about the green shirt fella.

IOW nothing here.
Click to expand...

Good point. Next time I rob a bank, I'm going to wear a business suit and do it downtown. With the police obligated to arrest and detain every one of the thousands of average-sized, brown-haired, white men in a suit within the area, there's a good chance I'll be able to slip through their net.
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Why the expense of a suit. A hoodie will do.
 
Tom Sawyer said:
fromderinside said:
Normal operating procedures. Getting tapes and reviewing them takes time and are usually conducted by others than those who arrest. Too bad about the green shirt fella.

IOW nothing here.
Click to expand...

Good point. Next time I rob a bank, I'm going to wear a business suit and do it downtown. With the police obligated to arrest and detain every one of the thousands of average-sized, brown-haired, white men in a suit within the area, there's a good chance I'll be able to slip through their net.
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Snark aside, my favorite bank robber was the one who robbed a bank and then hopped on a city bus. (Before our surveillance nation.) She was eventually caught.

- - - Updated - - -

I'm sure after a full scan of his facebook page, photos of petty criminals who look similar, and high school records we will find that he "was no angel" and the cops were in the right.
 
Nice Squirrel said:
Snark aside, my favorite bank robber was the one who robbed a bank and then hopped on a city bus. (Before our surveillance nation.) She was eventually caught.
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Do you know the name of my favourite bank robber? Neither do I. He got away with it.
 
Tom Sawyer said:
fromderinside said:
Why the expense of a suit. A hoodie will do.
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There aren't as many white people wearing hoodies.
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Really.

A Wells Fargo commercial using hoodies

wells_fargo_flash_mob_assembles.jpg



A commercial forchrissake!
 
Nice Squirrel said:
Tom Sawyer said:
Good point. Next time I rob a bank, I'm going to wear a business suit and do it downtown. With the police obligated to arrest and detain every one of the thousands of average-sized, brown-haired, white men in a suit within the area, there's a good chance I'll be able to slip through their net.
Click to expand...
Snark aside, my favorite bank robber was the one who robbed a bank and then hopped on a city bus. (Before our surveillance nation.) She was eventually caught.

- - - Updated - - -

I'm sure after a full scan of his facebook page, photos of petty criminals who look similar, and high school records we will find that he "was no angel" and the cops were in the right.
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Did they find a box of Swisher Sweets on him?
 
It grinds my gears whenever I hear the 'do you know who I am' response from people who think this entitles them to be excluded from negative aspects of the legal system.

This guy and Reese Witherspoon should start a support club. Celebrities Who Were Arrested Despite Being Celebrities. The first meeting should involve a presentation: "Do You Know Who I Am? A dark journey into American jurisprudence's lack of regard for Wealthy Important People."
 
Yeah, except this guy didn't use "do you know who I am" with the police.
 
ksen said:
Yeah, except this guy didn't use "do you know who I am" with the police.
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He certainly says it in his Facebook post quoted in the OP, that he 'gets' the fact that the cops are too socially oblivious to realise he was an 'award nominated and awarding winning business professional'. Of course, if he really did think it was not reasonable for the cops to know that (and what, not arrest him because they know that?), he wouldn't have mentioned a list of things he thinks it's reasonable for the cops not to know about him, saying he 'gets' it.

The cops misidentified him, and it took them a long time (from this guys' perspective) for them to rectify the mistake. Whether or not it's reasonable for the cops to have reviewed the tape and released him in a more timely fashion, I don't know. Perhaps six hours from arrest to release is reasonable, given all the circumstances.
 
Tom Sawyer said:
Wow, what an elitist snob. Just because he can tell two black people apart, all of a sudden everybody else is supposed to be able to do that as well?

Hopefully this incident will teach him a valuable lesson in getting over himself.
Click to expand...

While I do agree the cops sound like they were abusing his rights it's not like the video he's talking about was right at hand to do the comparison.
 
Tom Sawyer said:
fromderinside said:
Why the expense of a suit. A hoodie will do.
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There aren't as many white people wearing hoodies.
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Tell me another.
Most of the young men I see are dressed in hoodies. Maybe not the best disguise for anyone over thirty though, although a business suit would also stick out in this part of the world. Then again, with only one road in and out of the territory, it's probably not a great idea to try and knock off any of our banks. :D

As for the OP, very unlucky to fit the broader parameters of the description but not to be read your rights and denied a phone call?

Maybe I just picked up those novel ideas watching television...
 
Under the Rose said:
As for the OP, very unlucky to fit the broader parameters of the description but not to be read your rights and denied a phone call?

Maybe I just picked up those novel ideas watching television...
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Yes most people do pick up that idea from TV. They only have to read your rights if they are going to question you. You should never talk to police anyway so whether they mirandize you or not should be moot for everyone regardless.
 
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