thedailywhat:

Alleged Evidence Planting Video Evidence of the Day: Police dashcam footage released by the Utica Phoenix over the weekend appears to show a Utica PD officer planting the contents of a bag filled with an unknown substance inside the vehicle of an African-American couple pulled over for an alleged traffic violation.

According to the Phoenix, the traffic stop occurred last February, and the video has since been “widely distributed through the Black community,” fueling “the renewal of complaints long charged against the Utica Police of the planting of evidence and other abuses by the local force.”

In the video an officer can be seen leading away a cuffed individual (0:50) just before a second officer, standing next to an opened passenger door, appears to pull a bag out of his pocket (~1:02), and place it inside the vehicle. Moments later (~1:30), the same officer removes what may be the same bag, now opened, from the car, and steps away.

The Phoenix reached out to Utica Police for comment and were told that an internal affairs investigation into the incident was ongoing.

[phoenix / reddit.]

1 month ago  /  617 notes  /  Source: thedailywhat