Body camera video shows a police officer in Tallahassee, Florida opening a sealed bottle of alcohol she found in a Black man’s car, pouring it on the ground, then throwing it back into the car before charging the man with DUI.
Our Tallahassee obtained footage from the night of May 7, 2023, when 26-year-old officer Kiersten Oliver pulled over 56-year-old Calvin Riley, Sr. It has since gone viral on social media.
Oliver’s body camera shows her approaching Riley’s white Mercedes Benz and speaking to him for a while before calling for backup.
When Officer Margaret Mueth arrives, Oliver tells her she believes Riley is under the influence of something.
“I feel like I’m getting some indications, I’m not really sure. I can’t really smell anything right now,” Oliver says to Mueth.
Oliver returns to Riley’s vehicle to ask if he would submit to a voluntary field sobriety test. When Riley refuses, Oliver asks him to exit his car and detains him.
While Riley is escorted to her police vehicle, Oliver tells him she smells marijuana on his car and asks if he’s been smoking weed, which Riley denies. Mueth also questions Riley, asking him if someone had been smoking in the car earlier that day.
Our Tallahassee reported that both officers were heard discussing whether there was enough evidence to charge Riley with DUI. Mueth explained they couldn’t charge him for refusing a voluntary sobriety test.
“Is there enough, like before that?” Oliver is heard asking Mueth. “There’s nothing we can do for the signal one portion of it? Because he refused?”
After Riley is detained, Oliver searches his car. She found no weed but did spot a sealed liquor bottle in the car’s front seat.
In the bodycam footage, she’s heard opening the bottle and pouring its contents onto the street before throwing it back into Riley’s car. Viewers can clearly hear audible noises of the seal being broken and the alcohol being poured. Mueth’s bodycam footage also clearly…
Read the full article here
