Fred.

One night, Fred had been sharing drinks on his friend’s back porch when he left to go home. As he was crossing the park, police cars jumped the curb and pulled up next to him, sirens wailing and lights flashing. The officers wanted to know where he was coming from, where he was going, and if he had any drugs on him. When Fred told them he didn’t have any drugs, they put his body up against the car and searched him. A minute later, Fred was face-to-face with a police officer holding thirteen bags of heroin.

“That ain’t mine, man,” Fred told the officers. “I ain’t had that.”

“Well,” the officer replied, “it’s yours today unless you tell us something we want to know.”

This was not Fred’s first experience with police. He had sold drugs before and been to jail. And since he didn’t have any information to offer the officers for his freedom, he would spend another eight months there.

The CPD’s version of the story was that their officers spotted a known drug dealer in the park past midnight, and when the man saw them, he panicked and threw his heroin to the ground. The judge believed the police, and Fred spent over a year in prison.

Three years after getting out, Fred said that if he had known he could’ve filed complaints against police officers who harassed him, he would’ve done it every time it happened.