Black officer says white cops pulled him over, drew guns for no reason

ORLANDO, Fla. — One week after Channel 9 broke the story of an Orlando officer bragging about racially profiling drivers, we were tipped off that a black officer at the Orlando Police Department said he was profiled by his own department.

Seven-year Orlando Police Officer Janir Sims said two white officers pulled him over two months ago for no reason, so he filed a complaint against them.

The officer said the incident happened at Michigan and Delaney avenues. Sims said for no reason, the officers came at him with guns drawn.

In his complaint, Sims said what fellow Orlando officers Tyler Olsen and Phil McMican did to him was "terrifying and traumatic."

Sims said he was off-duty in his own car on Oct. 5 when he was stopped for no reason after he got a green light at the intersection.

Sims said he pulled over and the two officers blocked him in and came at him with their guns drawn.

He wrote, "With my OPD ID in hand and fearing for my life, I immediately began to yell for the officers not to shoot while trying to get them to recognize my ID."

Sims said the officer closest to him realized he was an officer and replied, "Oh, (expletive.)"

Sims said his    BMW was in "perfect working condition" and he was obeying all traffic laws.

One of his fellow officers suggested he might have been speeding but had no proof, then claimed his tag was covered.

Even if that were true, Sims said the officers conducted more of a "felony stop" than a traffic stop and that they skipped verbal commands altogether.

He wrote that they "ran towards my vehicle in a reckless manner not prescribed by any formal OPD training that I am aware of."

Sims wrote that he's often defended OPD against accusations of racist and prejudicial attitudes.

Sims said in his complaint that what his fellow officers did was "reckless" and "reflects poorly on the department."

"There doesn't seem to be reasonable suspicion to conduct a traffic stop, much less probable cause and certainly the amount of force displayed by the officers seems way out of proportion," said WFTV legal analyst Bill Sheaffer. "The Orlando Police Department can either learn from this and train their officers to be more sensitive in these stops or they can blame the officer who was stopped and freeze him out."

 

 

WFTV