First Black Belfast Poet Laurate Cries Racial Profiling to City Council,

auntiebully • 9 minutes ago Hold on, this is waiting to be approved by WMTW.

He comes to Belfast City Council for support and they jump on it. Token First Black Poet Laureate of Belfast. For 5 yrs Belfast City Hall has been using police force, discriminating, intimidating, threatening my life as I expose the corruption local to State with a Dowtown witch hunt against me. Toussaint (real name Orson Titus) has been fine with that though. I'm just a low income Mom who hates all discrimination and bullying. And I'm telling. Dishonorable connected Judge included and all the players. www.boycottbelfast.blogspot.co...
Laurie Allen
Seaview Perish
Helfast Maine
laurieallen55@msn.com

Maine State Police accused of racial profiling

Man says his life has been threatened

http://www.wmtw.com/news/maine-state-police-accused-of-racial-profiling/37583512

LIBERTY, Maine —Maine State Police took to Facebook on Friday, saying a trooper is being falsely accused of racial profiling.
According to police, Trooper Sarah Ferland was driving on Main Street in Liberty on Jan. 7, when she swerved to avoid a person walking on the side of the road. Ferland turned around to tell the man, Orson Titus, also known as Toussaint St. Negritude, that he needed to walk facing traffic, police said.
According to police dashcam video, Ferland asked the man where he lived, if he had any weapons and if he had identification on him.
Raw video: Police dashcam
“I didn’t even see you, and I’m right behind you,” Ferland said on the 5-minute long video. “When you’re walking on the roadway and there’s no sidewalk, you have to walk against traffic.”
Police said that after the incident, St. Negritude went to a friend, who made a complaint to a sergeant, accusing Ferland of racial profiling.
St. Negritude spoke about the incident during a Jan. 19 Belfast City Council meeting.

According to meeting video provided by state police, St. Negritude identified himself as the poet laureate of Belfast.
“I recently had an encounter of, as I interpreted a pretty severe case of racial profiling, to the point where my life has been threatened, and I’m hoping for the best,” Titus told the council.
St. Negritude said he was walking home from the library in Liberty, when the state trooper held him for a half hour, asking him “What are you doing here?” and “Do you have any guns, knives, sharp objects of weapons on you?”

St. Negritude said he does not own a gun and fears harassment and retaliation from the incident.
On Friday, state police posted on Facebook saying the video shows a different scenario.
“The video of the conversation was drastically different than the version given by the complainant,” state police wrote. “The state police have reviewed both the Belfast City Council video where the accusations were made and the dashcam video from the trooper. The state police investigate all complaints made by the public against troopers. This case was handled no differently.”
State police said the interaction lasted less than five minutes.
“While the State Police can appreciate that some people may feel scared or intimidated by the police, it is unfortunate how one person’s version of the events are completely different from what the trooper’s dashcam shows,” state police wrote. “We are disheartened that Mr. Titus would use a public forum to impugn the reputation of a hardworking and dedicated trooper and the Maine State Police by telling a story that is not supported by facts.”
WMTW News 8 has reached out to St. Negritude for comment.

Maine State Police - Headquarters

Government Organization · 67,336 Likes

· 19 hrs ·

MAINE STATE POLICE RESPOND TO ALLEGATIONS OF RACIAL PROFILING
On January 7, 2016 Maine State Trooper Sarah Ferland was traveling through Liberty on Main Street when she swerved to avoid hitting a person walking with traffic near the white fog line and wearing dark clothing. She turned around to tell the person she almost hit them and they needed to walk facing traffic. Shortly after she spoke to the man, he went to a friend, who made a complaint on his behalf accusing Trooper Ferland of racial profiling. A sergeant spoke to the friend and listened to her version of the event. The sergeant immediately contacted the Trooper, and then viewed her dash cam video of the incident. The video of the conversation was drastically different than the version given by the complainant. The sergeant called the complainant back and explained that the video showed an entirely different scenario.

On January 21, 2016 we were made aware of strong accusations of the State Police conducting racial profiling regarding this incident. The public accusation was made on January 19th at the Belfast City Council meeting during their public discussion segment. Among his accusations was that “his life was threatened”, “he was held for over a half hour” and “repeatedly asked the same two questions over and over and over again.”
The State Police have reviewed both the Belfast City Council video where the accusations were made and the dash cam video from the Trooper. The State Police investigate all complaints made by the public against troopers. This case was handled no differently.
Trooper Ferland stopped and spoke to Orson Titus, also known as Toussaint St. Negritude, because she almost struck him while he was walking along the side of the road. The reason for this conversation was to tell him, as she did, that he needed to walk against traffic for his safety. The brief interaction between Trooper Ferland and Mr. Titus lasted less than 5 minutes and during that time she was polite and cordial and treated him with respect. Trooper Ferland’s handling of the incident was well within standard police operating procedure and was made for his own personal safety in light of the 19 pedestrian fatals that took place in Maine during 2015, the highest number since 1994.
While the State Police can appreciate that some people may feel scared or intimidated by the police; it is unfortunate how one person’s version of the events are completely different from what the Trooper’s dash cam shows.
We are disheartened that Mr. Titus would use a public forum to impugn the reputation of a hardworking and dedicated Trooper and the Maine State Police by telling a story that is not supported by facts.
Both Orson Titus’ address to the Belfast City Council and the Trooper’s dash cam video are linked below. We encourage the public to look at both and come to their own conclusion.
(Belfast City Meeting) https://youtu.be/Lyc45Lot9Mk
(Tpr. Ferland Video) https://youtu.be/C2hfYKTrmu4
(The brief segment of muted audio in the cruiser video is to protect the date of birth information of Mr. Titus.)

Below The Republican Journal Article

Liberty resident, poet laureate alleges racial profiling by state police

By Ben Holbrook | Jan 23, 2016 

Liberty — Toussaint St. Negritude was walking along Main Street the evening of Jan. 7, returning to his home from Liberty Library, a trip he has made numerous times.
But this night, the walk was different. This night, St. Negritude believes he was the victim of racial profiling by a state police trooper.
As St. Negritude made the two-block trip to his home, he navigated what he believed was the snow- and ice-covered sidewalk of Main Street at about 5:30 p.m., noticing a vehicle cruise past him. He didn’t pay much attention to the vehicle as he walked, figuring it was someone who might have recognized him, as he has previously encountered people who have approached him since he was named Belfast's poet laureate.
As he crossed Main Street to head down Jacques Road to his home, St. Negritude saw the vehicle turn around and drive back toward him. At that point, the vehicle’s blue lights were activated and he was asked to approach the car — a Maine State Police cruiser — with a spotlight shining in his face, St. Negritude said, sitting in a conference room on the third floor of Belfast Free Library Jan. 22.
In what St. Negritude describes as a harsh tone, Trooper Sarah Ferland, with her hand on her gun, asked him “what are you doing here?” And he responded, “I’m coming from the library. I live two blocks from the library.”
She repeated her question. He repeated his answer.
Ferland then asked, according to St. Negritude, “do you have any guns, knives, sharp objects or weapons on you?”
St. Negritude said no.
Sharing his story during the public comment portion of a Belfast City Council meeting he noted, “I’ve never owned a weapon.”
He said he was interrogated by Ferland for about 30 minutes and provided his identification when asked. After questioning him, Ferland allegedly told St. Negritude, as he told The Republican Journal, she stopped him because “she couldn’t see him,” he said, and because he “was in the middle of the street.”

He believes the incident, whether intentional or not, was motivated by the fact he is black.

State police, on their Facebook page, tell a different version of the evening's events.
In their post, state police say Ferland was traveling along Main Street in Liberty when she swerved to avoid hitting a person walking with traffic near the fog line while wearing dark clothing.
“The reason for this conversation was to tell him, as she did, that he needed to walk against traffic for his safety. The brief interaction between Trooper Ferland and Mr. Titus lasted less than 5 minutes and during that time she was polite and cordial and treated him with respect,” the post states.
State police identify St. Negritude by his birth name of Orson Titus in the Facebook post.
St. Negritude said he had his hood pulled up while walking along Main Street because it was a cold January night.
Police also say a sergeant reviewed footage from Ferland’s cruiser’s dashboard camera. A video of the alleged incident posted to YouTube by John Cote of Maine State Police lasts 5 minutes, 15 seconds.

At one point, the dashboard camera footage’s audio is muted briefly to “protect the date of birth information of Mr. Titus,” according to police.

The age of individuals who are charged or summoned are provided in state police incident logs.

“Trooper Ferland’s handling of the incident was well within standard police operating procedure and was made for his own personal safety in light of the 19 pedestrian fatals that took place in Maine during 2015, the highest number since 1994,” the Facebook post states.
The Republican Journal also reviewed the dashboard camera footage. The audio quality of the video is poor and it is difficult at times to make out exactly what is said during the encounter. Neither Ferland's nor St. Negritude's voices are raised or sound confrontational in the video.
St. Negritude said the incident scared him.

He said his father and 29-year-old nephew would like to visit him this summer.

But he’s terrified, he said, and doesn’t want to invite them.

“I’ve never been so frightened in my life,” he said. “So in terror of my potential of getting shot.”
St. Negritude said he enjoys walking around Liberty, the rural Waldo County town he moved to in June 2015. Since he moved to Maine in 2013, he’s never had any problems with local law enforcement, he said.
After his encounter with Ferland, St. Negritude said he is more hesitant to walk around, but also said he moved to Maine and the Midcoast because “it’s such a wonderful community,” as demonstrated by the support he has received since the Jan. 7 incident.
While St. Negritude said he has not filed a formal complaint against state police, he said others have.
Maine Attorney General’s Office spokesman Timothy Feeley, responding to an email asking if any formal complaints about the alleged incident have been received, said only,“No, this is not familiar to us.”
While The Republican Journal could not confirm any formal complaints as of press time, Belfast City Councilors voiced their displeasure with St. Negritude’s treatment by state police at the Jan. 19 meeting.
Led by Councilor John Arrison, a request was made to have City Manager Joe Slocum submit a complaint on council’s behalf to state police.
Former Belfast Poet Laureate Jacob Fricke also spoke at the council meeting, admonishing racial profiling.
“Racism is a pervasive and all too frequently invisible force that even in an apparently free society cumulatively drives people down and has the power to deprive them of the most basic amenities required for survival and a dignified life,” Fricke said.
In addition to sharing his story with the council, St. Negritude reached out to state Rep. Christine Burstein, D-Lincolnville, who has since contacted him about setting up a meeting. Burstein represents Liberty as well as six other Waldo County towns in the state Legislature. A date for that meeting, according to St. Negritude, has not been formally established.
St. Negritude maintains that he holds no ill feelings toward Ferland or police in general. Instead, he is asking that people join him Jan. 31 for a gathering at Liberty Town Office from 1 to 3 p.m. During the event, St. Negritude will perform music and some of his poetry, and other musicians and poets will be featured as well. Attendees will also be able to participate in a strategy session for addressing racial profiling in local communities, St. Negritude said.
St. Negritude, who said he would never describe himself as front-and-center person, has suddenly found himself thrust into the role of social activist.
“Often we don’t stand up until something lands in our back yard,” St. Negritude said. “It’s like the universe is saying ‘it’s now my turn to stand up.’”