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United States

Black senator: I was pulled over 7 times in 1 year

Source: USA Today:
July 14, 2016 at 12:21

Scott said he was moved to discuss the issues after last week's shootings in Dallas, Minnesota and Baton Rouge.

Scott started by saying he supports law enforcement, but says there is a deep divide between the black community and law enforcement.

The Senator went on to share personal experiences, saying was pulled over seven different times during one year while serving as an elected official.

"Was I speeding sometimes? Sure," Scott said on the Senate Floor. "But the vast majority of the time I was pulled over for nothing more than driving a new car in the wrong neighborhood or some other reason just as trivial."

Scott went on to describe a time an officer pulled him over and began questioning if the car he was driving was stolen. "An officer pulls me into the median and starts telling me that he thinks perhaps the car is stolen. Well, I started to ask myself because I was smart enough not to ask him, asking myself, is the license plate coming in as stolen? Does the license plate match the car? I was looking for some rational reason that may have prompted him to stopping me on the side of the road."

After the speech, California Democratic Senator Barbara Boxer thanked Senator Scott for the frank discussion.

Scott says Wednesday's speech is the second of three he plans to give on the Senate Floor about race.

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