More than $58,000 has been raised for a hot dog vendor outside UC Berkeley’s stadium after the man's cash was seized by a police officer.
The GoFundMe campaign was started by Martin Flores on Sunday to help the vendor after Flores captured the incident on video. Two campus police officers shut the vendor down for being unlicensed and cited him, then took $60 from his wallet, HuffPost reported.
Flores protested the officers’ actions, repeating "That's not right" as they took money from Beto Matias.
“That’s how it works,” one officer replied. “We’ll take it to the judge and the judge can decide whether or not it’s right.”
Flores posted the video on Facebook but later made it private. It was picked up by other social media accounts, however, and has been viewed millions of times.
The GoFundMe page said the money collected will cover Matias’ legal fees and losses from having his cart shut down. If any money is left, it will cover other vendors’ fees.
Although Flores thought the incident showed selective enforcement of the law, a statement from Vice Chancellor Scott Biddy said three other unlicensed vendors also were shut down on Saturday, according to The Washington Post.
A petition to remove the officer who cited Batias has gotten 25,000 signatures on campus since Saturday, the Post reported. The petition makes allegations the officer has a pattern of targeting minorities on campus.
Flores plans to make sure the vendor gets the proper permits, and possibly a food cart or truck to serve from, the Post reported.