TAMPA, Fla. (WFLA) — A local pastor is demanding a Hillsborough County Sheriff’s deputy be fired after an arrest in late August.
Pastor Carl Soto said the deputy pulled him over because of his race and then violently pulled him from his car for no reason.
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The Hillsborough County Sheriff’s office maintained the deputy did nothing wrong and that Soto could have driven away with a simple traffic ticket for an illegal license plate if the he had simply complied with a legal request to produce his driver’s license.
Friday, the sheriff’s office produced a video of the confrontation between the pastor and the deputy.
The video shows the deputy walking up to the car and immediately he is confronted by an angry Soto.
“I’m going to give you about 22 seconds to explain why you pulled me over, because I have not committed any traffic violations,” Soto shouted at the deputy.
Deputy Alex Almaguer sounded nearly incredulous at first and tells Soto, “The tag, you can’t have that design.”
The sheriff’s office maintains Almaguer pulled Soto over because he has a sticker of “The Joker” from the Batman Cartoon on his Florida License plate and that the sticker illegally covers part of the plate.
Soto maintains he did nothing wrong throughout the video
“I’m a third-year law student; this is not something you want to do,” Soto can be heard telling the deputy.
The deputy asks again and again to see Soto’s driver’s license. Soto can be seen taking out his license, but he pulls it back when the deputy tries to take it from his hand.
Soto said he was afraid at this time during the arrest.
“From the moment he was being confrontational with me, I knew the stop was unlawful,” Soto said.
The Pastor is a founder of Black Lives Matter Restoration Polk Inc. and admitted he was annoyed that he had been pulled over.
“I was annoyed that he followed me for three miles,” he said. “He was tailing me extremely close.”
In the video, the intensity increases quickly as Soto’s anger increases, and the deputy does little to de-escalate the situation.
“You have no lawful reason to open this door,” Soto shouts as the deputy opens his door and grabs his wrist.
The deputy shouts, “driver’s license now!”
The Hillsborough County Sheriff’s Office said this situation did not have to end with an arrest if Soto had simply handed the deputy his driver’s license.
“Unfortunately Mr. Soto’s actions led to this being escalated and this resulting and ending in a very different way,” said Amanda Granit with the Sheriff’s office.
Soto said he was pulled over because he is Black and treated differently because of the color of his skin.
“This wouldn’t have happened if I was a few shades lighter,” Soto said.
The sheriff’s office said the arrest and the video of the arrest have been reviewed by a supervisor, and they feel the deputy did nothing wrong.
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