These Tallahassee Karen Cops Completely Botched The DUI Arrest of a Black Man
A few Tallahassee cops were just exposed for their shiesty behavior during the DUI arrest of a Black man who says his life was nearly ruined because of their shoddy work.
What was so bad, you ask...? The cops were caught on video planting DUI evidence in his car.
A bombshell report from Our Tallahassee details the night 56-year-old Calvin Riley was pulled over on May 7, 2023. Riley, still in his barber uniform, was pulled over by Tallahassee Police Department recruit Kiersten Oliver, who is heard on body camera footage dispatching that she thinks Riley is under the influence.
Oliver says over the radio she can’t smell anything but after approaching Riley in his vehicle, she tells him he smells like marijuana.
Riley denies the claim because he doesn’t smoke weed. Officer Margaret Mueth testified in a pre-trial hearing that she joined Oliver following that moment in deciding to ask Riley to perform a sobriety test. In the video, Riley refuses and he’s asked to step out of the vehicle and is placed in handcuffs.
Riley was already at risk of arrest for driving with a suspended license, the report says. However, it would take a second offense for the officers to have a reason to place him in custody.
According to the body camera footage, the officers created the second offense on their own.
Read more from Our Tallahassee:
Despite initial claims that Riley smelt like marijuana, by the time they had placed Riley in the back of Oliver’s patrol car, officers began to claim that Riley smelled like alcohol. The two searched Riley’s car while he sat in the back of Oliver’s squad car. They didn’t find any marijuana.
“Oh, there’s vodka in his seat… vodka was found,” Officer Oliver notes to her body-worn camera. While they search Riley’s car, Officer Mueth’s body camera shows Oliver holding up the full bottle of cognac.
Officer Mueth then returned to Officer Oliver’s car and returned to questioning Riley. As Riley sat detained in the back of Oliver’s car, this time, Mueth returned to the subject of marijuana. From this moment, the body-worn camera shows Officer Oliver pouring out a liquid onto the street outside Riley’s Mercedes. Oliver’s body camera recorded the sound of the liquor bottle being opened. After Oliver pours out the bottle, she tosses it onto the floorboard of the passenger side of Riley’s vehicle.
The arrest report from the incident — written by Mueth and not Oliver, who opened the container — states the reason for the DUI charge stems from an open container and, allegedly, Riley’s breath smelling like alcohol. In a pre-trial hearing, Oliver testified that she was just following the department policy regarding “prohibited impounding liquids.”
However, when handed a copy of the policy she was referencing, she could not locate the section where she got that information from, per Our Tallahassee’s report.
Now, Riley’s headed to trial on Friday, April 5 to let a jury watch the body cam and make their own conclusion.
