Florida man accused of illegally detaining Black 18-year-old heading to basketball practice
A former Florida theme park security guard has been arrested for allegedly acting like a "vigilante" when he "racially profiled" and falsely detained a Black teen who was on his way to basketball practice, prosecutors said. The 18-year-old was riding his bicycle during the early morning hours of June 8 when Luis Santos drove his car alongside the teenager.
"You work here? You live here?" asked Santos, 54, as he recorded with a cellphone, according to excerpts released by prosecutors.
"You're not going anywhere," said Santos, stepping out of his vehicle. "You're being detained. You're not going anywhere." Santos called 911 claiming that the unidentified teenager was seen on video "breaking into cars" and that he thought the teen had stolen a bike.
Prosecutors with the Hillsborough State Attorney's Office said there was no evidence of any crimes(and) Santos had no legal authority to detain the 18-year-old. Santos classified himself as a ‘white Hispanic’ and listed his employment as a shop assistant in Tampa, according to jail records.
When deputies arrived, they "calmed the situation down and comforted the victim. Then they took this vigilante to task for what he'd done and referred the case to our office for potential charges," Warren added. One officer then took the 18-year-old to his basketball practice. Santos was released on $2,000 bond on July 25, according to online jail records. If convicted on felony third-degree false imprisonment charges, he could see up to five years in prison.
https://abcnews.go.com/US/florida-man-accused-illegally-detaining-black-18-year/story?id=72051445
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