RantCrush Top 5: July 12, 2017

Body cam footage from a police officer who pulled over Florida’s State Attorney Aramis D. Ayala, who happens to be the first black, female state attorney in Florida, has gone viral and prompted accusations of racial profiling. The clip shows that when the officers walk up to the car Ayala already had her license ready and hands it over. The officer asked her what agency she’s working for, and she responded, “I’m the state attorney.” She asked why she was pulled over, and the officer said they ran her tag and it didn’t come back. “Never seen that before,” he said. He also said her windows looked dark.

Watch as @OrlandoPolice struggle to give one reasonable explanation for why they just pulled over the only Black state’s attorney in Florida pic.twitter.com/Dth5VW1wcB

— Shaun King (@ShaunKing) July 11, 2017

According to an ACLU study, black drivers are stopped and ticketed almost twice as frequently as white drivers in Florida. Ayala has also been the target of racist threats ever since she became the state attorney. Back in March, she received a letter with a noose made from twine. Now a lot of social media users are questioning the stop’s legitimacy and believe it was a definite case of racial profiling.

Emma Von Zeipel

Emma Von Zeipel is a staff writer at Law Street Media. She is originally from one of the islands of Stockholm, Sweden. After working for Democratic Voice of Burma in Thailand, she ended up in New York City. She has a BA in journalism from Stockholm University and is passionate about human rights, good books, horses, and European chocolate. Contact Emma at EVonZeipel@LawStreetMedia.com.