For all our history, we have rounded up any convenient black man when investigating a crime, regardless of evidence. It keeps everyone scared and knowing their place. Now we’re getting woke. Observing four paragraph rule. Read the whole thing - it’s egregious either way, depending on your perspective, either as an abuse of power or in undermining police acting the way we want them to. At 8:06 p.m. that evening one of the cards was used at a Speedway gas station on McMullen Booth Road to buy cigarettes, according to LaPread’s complaints. A credit card from the Jeep was also used at a nearby Walgreens. On that same evening, LaPread stopped at the Speedway, withdrew $20 from the ATM and used part of the cash to make a purchase, the complaints state. On the way out, LaPread held the door open for officers, who, unbeknownst to him, were arriving to investigate the use of the stolen credit card, according to the complaints. “One of the officers thought LaPread ‘looked suspicious,’ so he watched LaPread enter his vehicle and wrote down his license plate number,” a complaint alleged. After running LaPread’s plates, the officers obtained surveillance video of the man who used the stolen credit card at the Speedway. The suspect had no resemblance to LaPread other than being an African American male, the complaints alleged.The suspect had a full beard with sideburns and was wearing long gray pants and a white long-sleeved shirt. LaPread was wearing a white T-shirt and blue cargo pants, the lawsuits state. His booking photo shows a goatee but no beard. Clearwater settles lawsuits alleging racial bias in wrongful arrest for $50,000 Clearwater settles lawsuits alleging racial bias in wrongful arrest for $50,000 - Tampa Bay Times
