Jacksonville.com – by Dan Scanlan
Church and community leaders are convening a town hall meeting to discuss “driving while black” after a prominent pastor said a Jacksonville police officer pointed a gun at him and his nephew while questioning their vehicle’s tinted windows.
The Rev. Darien K. Bolden Sr., past president of the Baptist Ministers Conference, said he won’t comment on what happened until Friday’s gathering, and the Sheriff’s Office has been limited in its response. But nevertheless the incident has been condemned by the head of the local NAACP as well as the man in charge of the Florida General Baptist Convention.
Bolden, senior pastor of First Missionary Baptist Church of Fernandina Beach, said the “State of Jacksonville Town Hall Meeting” will be at 11 a.m. Friday at Central Baptist Institutional Church at 524 W. Third St. The Florida General Baptist Convention, Baptist Ministers Conference, The Northside Coalition of Jacksonville and other organizations are scheduled to attend.
Isaiah Rumlin, president of the Jacksonville branch of the NAACP, said he is deeply concerned about what he called an unwarranted traffic stop of Bolden over a possible window tint violation. He said he is even more concerned that a police officer apparently pulled a gun on Bolden and his nephew during questioning.
“We have a good relationship [with the sheriff]. What happened last week is just unacceptable,” Rumlin said. “… I think there has got to be better training as it relates to mental health, as it relates to how officers approach people when they are pulled over. … If there’s not, somebody is going to get killed as a result of these officers.”
Representatives of the Sheriff’s Office have been in touch with Bolden to discuss his concerns and allegations, said Lauri-Ellen Smith, special assistant to Sheriff Mike Williams.
“This matter will be thoroughly investigated by the JSO,” Smith said.
With little firsthand or official information provided on what happened, one account comes from a Thursday Facebook posting from the Rev. James Sampson, head of the Florida General Baptist Convention. Sampson, also pastor at First New Zion Missionary Baptist Church on Soutel Drive, said Bolden gave him and others a“chilling testimony” of his encounter with two officers last week.
Bolden and his nephew had stopped on 19th Street, the same street where the pastor had grown up, to check on some homes he was interested in purchasing as investment property. Sampson said Bolden drives “a very nice car” with Masonic insignias on it. Bolden and his nephew were sitting in the car, parked in front of a house they were interested in, when two police cars pulled up.
The officer told the pastor he had stopped because the car’s window tint was too dark, Sampson wrote. Bolden told the officer that he had a concealed weapons permit and there was a weapon in the car.
“That’s exactly what he was supposed to do,” Sampson wrote. “The officer then asked for license and registration. And as the pastor began to reach for his license and registration, the officer pulled out his weapon and pointed it in his face. Both the pastor and his nephew felt like they were going to die that day, all because of a frivolous traffic stop.”
The other officer asked the nephew to show his identification, but the younger man was afraid to put his hands down and told the officer to get it from the car’s floor “because he did not want to be shot,” Sampson wrote. The pastor said he felt like Philando Castile, shot and killed July 6, 2016, by Officer Jeronimo Yanez during a traffic stop in a Minnesota suburb. The shooting, which ended with the officer acquitted at his June trial, made national news after Castile’s girlfriend live-streamed the shooting aftermath on Facebook.
In the end, Bolden was not ticketed, with the officer telling him to have a great day after the pastor was “humiliated and traumatized,” Sampson wrote.
“Here is my question: Why is it that every time you stop the black man for anything, officers have to escalate it to confrontation status?” Sampson questions in his Facebook post. “My colleague was simply a victim of driving while black here in Jacksonville. It is time for Sheriff Williams and Mayor [Lenny] Curry to stop this madness here in Jacksonville.”
Times-Union writer Ben Conarck contributed to this report.
Dan Scanlan: (904) 359-4549
“Bolden and his nephew had stopped on 19th Street, the same street where the pastor had grown up, to check on some homes he was interested in purchasing as investment property. Sampson said Bolden drives “a very nice car” with Masonic insignias on it. Bolden and his nephew were sitting in the car, parked in front of a house they were interested in, when two police cars pulled up.”
“somebody is going to get killed as a result of these officers.”
Uh huh
More than likely , because that’s the plan
But , if the worm turns , it might just not be who they think
I think these racists need to look outside of their little world for a second. The oinkers point guns at all of us, not just blacks.
“In the end, Bolden was not ticketed, with the officer telling him to have a great day after the pastor was “humiliated and traumatized,” Sampson wrote.”
Beats dead.