Clearwater, Florida - A Bay area pastor is praying for justice saying he was racially profiled and put in the back of a deputy's patrol car for doing nothing but driving while black.
Dr. Julius Wynn has been a preacher for 20 years. He's also an assistant principal at a middle school and an ethics professor at St. Petersburg College. Wynn says he's speaking out because no one should have to endure what he went through on Saturday, Sept. 26.
Wynn loves God. He also loves golf. But two weeks ago he wondered if his love for the game might cost him his freedom. He says, "I'm thinking he's about to hit me with some club or something. At this point then I'm thinking about all those black boys -- that have gotten recently killed by police officers many of them weren't doing anything wrong."
Wynn says he and a co-worker were racially profiled and harassed by Pinellas County Sheriff's Office deputies just minutes away from his Wynn's Clearwater home. Wynn says he was dropping of a co-worker, a teacher, who lives at this a nearby apartment complex. They'd been at the Oldsmar Flea Market at a well known golf store.
What neither of them realized though is that thieves had just robbed a jewelry store of $8,000 worth of merchandise at the flea market and taken off in a vehicle similar to Wynn's. The suspects were said to be black males in their 50s with beards.
Three black males in their 50s with beards.
Wynn says, "He said get out of the car. 'I'm like get out of the car. I say why are we getting out of the car? We haven't done anything.'"
Wynn says in all more than half a dozen deputies responded. He says the ordeal lasted an hour and a half and he was floored by how they were talked to and treated. He adds, "You know what they did when after they put us both in the police car? They shook each hands and slapping each others hands like oooh look what' we've done which I thought was so insulting and unprofessional."
10 News went straight to the top to get some answers from Sheriff Bob Gualtieri who says he's watched the video from the deputies dashcam and his deputies did act properly. He also says Wynn was the one who was disrespectful by calling a deputy Barney Fife. He says his deputies were nothing but respectful and courteous.
The incident is under investigation. A former St. Petersburg police officer says by law you have to stop when law enforcement needs to question you. He says be patient and respectful. He says if you feel you have been mistreated always ask for a supervisor and try to get the names and badge numbers of all involved so you can make a formal complaint at a later time.
