A black man was arrested in the Washington, D.C., suburb of Silver Spring, Maryland, after walking a drunk neighbor home. A video filmed by one of his neighbors, which has since gone viral, shows his arrest.
How did this happen? The man in question, 23-year-old Samir Ahmed, explained to news outlets that the incident began when he found a man passed out near his front yard. Ahmed was kind enough to walk his drunk neighbor, who he says was falling down, home. When Ahmed returned to his home, he says he found Montgomery County police officers and firetrucks present.
The officers originally showed up to assist the drunk man, says Ahmed. Someone called them, though it’s unclear who. But when an officer “detected a strong odor of marijuana emanating” from Ahmed, as noted in court documents, things escalated.
The caption on Ahmed’s Instagram post of the video reads:
”(((PLEASE SHARE AND TAG))))
On Saturday November,17,2018 at 11:00am I was locked out my house, so I called a Lyft to a friends house. While I was outside I realized that an intoxicated man had just fell down right by my front yard. I asked if he was okay,but he was so drunk he could barely talk. So I lifted him up and took him home. While walking him home I asked why was he drinking so much, so early in the morning. Unfortunately he was grieving the loss of his brother who passed away a few days ago. I knocked on the door and made sure he got inside home safely then walked back home. When i returned home i seen there where police men and firefighters outside my house. I asked “is there a fire”. The officer responded saying they where called there because someone was intoxicated and needed medical attention. Apparently before I had seen the drunk guy he was unconscious in somebodies lawn.I explained how I carried him home, and showed my ID to prove that I lived on the residence. After answering all there questions in a respectful manner, one the officers said”I think you’re the intoxicated one”. I was later arrested as seen my in the video but was never told what for till literally 3 hours later. I’m currently fighting four charges and Fox 5, NBC, and CBS won’t shed light on this situation SO PLEASE SHARE! Shout out to the Peters family for recording and all the love and support they showed through this situation”
Four cops searched Ahmed, who denied having used marijuana and resisted arrest. Cops say they found a small plastic bag of “suspected marijuana” in his coat pocket. They also said they suspected he was intoxicated, though Ahmed says he was sober.
As Ahmed explained to the Washington Post, he told police he’d already walked the man home. When one of the officers asked Ahmed for the man’s precise address, Ahmed told the Post, he was reluctant to give it, since he felt everything had been taken care of already. At one point, as shown in the video, police had Ahmed against the hood of his car, face down, with his hands behind his back. During all of this, his family and neighbors gathered outside, assuring officers Ahmed had done nothing wrong.
How did this wrap up? Ahmed was arrested on charges that included failure to obey a lawful order, resisting arrest, disorderly conduct, and obstructing and hindering. In addition, he was issued a civil violation for possession of less than 10 grams of marijuana.
Ahmed’s lawyer, J. Wyndal Gordon, said he doesn’t believe officers smelled marijuana, but thinks that they made a hunch based on his race. Beyond that, he believes that officers couldn’t have reasonably smelled unburned marijuana from inside his client’s pocket.
Ahmed’s court date is set for January.
“If I had blond hair and blue eyes, this wouldn’t be an issue,” Ahmed said. Sadly, he’s almost certainly correct.