Controversy is raging after video surfaced of Orlando police pulling over African-American State Attorney Aramis Ayala, even though experts and Ayala herself say the traffic stop was handled properly according to normal police procedure.
The video of body cam footage worn by one of the officers involved in the stop surfaced online and was viewed by millions of people by Wednesday.
Ayala was pulled over last month after her car’s tag was checked and it wasn’t registered to any vehicle, the officer told her in the video. Checking tags is common during patrols in the area, according to Pinellas Sheriff’s Office Sergeant Spencer Gross, TampaBay.com reported.
“It’s a valuable tool in law enforcement,” Gross said, adding that if no record shows up, officers initiate a traffic stop to investigate further. The video also showed officers commenting that Ayala’s windows were tinted, so they couldn’t see who or how many people were in the vehicle.
Once the officers verified Ayala’s identity and the confidential tag, they promptly sent her on her way. Ayala verified that neither she nor the officers had done anything against the law in the traffic stop, according to NBC4.
Despite these assurances, controversy continues as some say Ayala was racially profiled by the police, while others say she was rude to the officers when she asked why they would run her tag if she hadn’t done anything wrong.