A video going viral on Facebook shows a Florida police officer threatening to jail a young black man for jaywalking.
In the video, Jacksonville Sheriff's Officer J.S. Bolen tells 21-year-old Devonte Shipman he could take him to jail for "disobeying a direct order" after stopping him for crossing a street without waiting for a walk signal.
Shipman tells the Miami Herald he recorded last week's encounter. In the video, viewed more than 500,000 times, the officer threatens to arrest Shipman for resisting when he questions him. He ticketed Shipman for jaywalking and for not carrying his driver's license and exhibiting it on demand, citing a statute that applies to drivers, not walkers.
"Take your camera and point it across there at the red hand, that is a crosswalk. One, you weren't in the crosswalk. Two, there was a red sign, you both crossed," the officer says in the video. "That's a $65 ticket."
Shipman continued to question the officer, who made him walk to his car.
According to Shipman, he was accompanied by two other men while crossing the street. Confused with questions unanswered, Shipman is unsure why he was "the only one being criminalized for it" at the time.
"Listen to me, I am doing you a favor, I'm not telling you again," Bolen said.
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Sheriff's spokeswoman Melisssa Bujeda said Wednesday they're "aware of this video and an administrative review is being conducted."
