| | Deputy takes man's Xbox during traffic stop
 The known hazards of "driving while black" may have to be amended to add those of driving while black, dreadlocked, and toting an Xbox.
When Kenyatta Hillman and a friend were pulled over by a Orange County traffic cop for speeding outside Orlando, FL, the deputy claimed to smell marijuana and searched the car. No drugs were found, but the deputy did spot an Xbox and eight games and seized them from Hillman, alleging they might have been stolen.
Even after the deputy checked the serial numbers and nothing came up, he insisted he wanted to hold onto them in case they were reported later. Hillman told WFTV News, "He said, 'When you've got your receipt and your box and stuff, call me and we'll meet someplace, and you show me the receipt and I'll give you your game.' I didn't understand him."
Hillman believes he was targeted because of his clothing and his dreadlocks. "It's probably the neighborhood, it's probably looking at me because of my hair, I've got gold in my mouth, probably the way I dress."
Hillman later went to the sheriff's office with the original receipt and packaging, but staff were unable to find his Xbox and games. "They was actually saying, 'We don't know what's going on,'" Hillman explained. "'It wasn't no arrest, it wasn't no police report filed, it's no case number, we can't find it.'"
The Orange County Sheriff's Office told WFTV there had simply been a miscommunication and the gaming system had not yet been transferred to the evidence room.
Hillman later reached the supervisor, who said he had the system and could return it, but not before the end of the week. "'I can't do anything this week,'" Hillman said the man told him. "'I'll call you Friday and I'll meet you Friday and then give you your Xbox back.'"
Ironically, Hillman heads a rap band called "Central Flawda's Most Wanted." On the band's MySpace page, Hillman says of himself:
"Born and raised right here in the 'O' and this is where I'm gonna die at (ya feel me) I was raised in these streets and had to adapt to them. so I do I what I say and I say what I do. And when I say it I speak the truth. And I also had to face changes. Some trials and tribulations but you have to go through that type of stuff some times in order to become a better person so I guess why I am who I am........Orange County stand up."
The WFTV report can be read here.
This video is from CNN.com, broadcast Nov. 20, 2008.
Download video via RawReplay.com
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