When Kenyatta Hillman and his friend were stopped by an Orange County deputy sheriff for speeding, he thought it was a simple matter of a ticket. Then the officer spied a new Xbox in the backseat. The officer insisted on checking if the Xbox serial number showed that it was stolen. It wasn’t, but the officer said he wanted to keep it anyway and took off with the Xbox and various games. When Hillman went to retrieve it, the station initially said it had no such item.
The officer allegedly told the men: “When you got your receipt and box and we’ll meet someplace, you show me your receipt and I’ll give you your game.”
After media coverage, Sgt. Hosey of the Sheriff’s office said that he had the system and would give it back. What I do not understand is the grounds for removing any item that lacks a receipt and original box from a car. There is an obvious concern that this is a case of “driving while black.” Do they do this with affluent drivers? If I have an Ipod on my lap, will it be confiscated until proven purchased?
The fact is that the officer lacked probable cause for an arrest and also lacked even reasonable suspicion that the game was stolen. This is a curious course of law enforcement — you seize all available property and force citizens to “prove the negative” that they are not crooks.
I am not sure which would be worse: if the officer simply wanted a Xbox or that this is a standard means of law enforcement in Orange County.
Sounds like conversion to me remedied by some media coverage.
I believe that this officer should be reprimanded by the department and fined at least the cost of an Xbox. Prof. Turley is correct when he says that this is probably a “driving while black” violation. The officer should get a ticket for working while being stupid.
Well, heck, that officer’s kids’ Christmas just got ruined.
Of course it’s a “driving while black” issue. Why should you think otherwise? Isn’t this always the case?
“Fined the cost of an xbox”??? You gotta be kidding!
Someone that steals an X-box should go to jail. A police officer that uses his position to steal an X-box should be fired and go to jail for 10 years. Somebody that blatantly stupid and malicious is a dead weight loss to society.
If I were the judge, I would also garnish the officer’s wages for the next 10 years…and give them to the guy he robbed.
lol garnish wages for 10 years.
That’s right buddy, and that’s why you’re probably working at $12/hour at a grocery store.
If it was me I would immediately call 911 amd report that my x box was just stolen by a police officer also the cop does not have to be white for it to be racial profiling.
I recall some town, I think in California, passed an ordinance sevral years ago that if a person was seem on the public way with car parts it was grounds for arrest unless the suspect had on his person some proof of ownership. I assume the law has been found unconstitutional by now, but this type of thinking comes up all the time.
We’ve had a “gang-loitering” statute reinacted over and over in Chicago, and repeatedly thrown out on appeal. The Pols don’t give a rat’s hairy ass how much money this costs the state.
I’m sure officer X-box will cost Orange County a few thousand bucks, fuck up there insurance and bond rating, and keep his job.
X Box is so much fun! My boyfriend is always playing it and I was starting to get annoyed. One nigh he handed it over to me and said here you play. I gave in and loved it. Hours went by and I still didn’t hand him back the controller =D