A Black man in Kansas is alleging that he endured a questionable traffic stop, after police officers pulled him over and searched his because there was “vegetation” on his windshield.
The so-called vegetation was actually dead leaves.
Rudy Samuel was driving in Winfield, KS earlier this month when he was pulled over for allegedly failing to signal a turn within 100 feet. He immediately went live on Facebook.
In the subsequent video, an officer, when asked why Samuel was pulled over, picks up the “ vegetation stuff“ from Samuel’s front window and says he has to test it.
“That’s tree stuff, man … that’s gotta be from a tree,” Samuel says. ”I don’t even smoke.”
The officer then tells Samuel to get out of his car. When Samuel requests that the leaves be tested first, the officer replies that, “I’ll test it here in a little bit, OK, I ain’t got to test it right now.”
Samuel is then forcibly removed from the car. His phone, at that point, goes dark, but the officer can be heard saying that the car needs to be searched. Samuel responds that he does not consent to a search until the so-called vegetation is tested first.
At that point, the video stops as someone picks up the phone. Samuel later wrote on Facebook that one of the officers stopped the recording.
According to Samuel’s attorney, the officers searched Samuel’s car before letting him go with no citations. But since going public, his family has had to move due to threats. He is considering a lawsuit against the police department
According to the Huffington Post, Winfield Police Chief Brett Stone declined to discuss the traffic stop as it is still under investigation.