A Maryland man shared a video of his recent arrest, saying that cops wrongfully targeted him for helping his neighbor.
Samir Ahmed, 23, posted the video taken by a neighbor of his November 17 arrest, and said the entire debacle started because of his honest mistake.
"I was locked out of my house, so I called a Lyft to a friend's house," Ahmed wrote. "While I was outside, I realized that an intoxicated man had just fallen down right by my front yard."
Ahmed shared a video of his arrest: (Warning, this video features strong language.)
Ahmed said he tried to help the man, who was so drunk he could barely walk, and eventually decided to carry the man to his house nearby.
But when Ahmed arrived back at his home, he found a group of Montgomery County police officers waiting for him. They had apparently received a call about the intoxicated man. Ahmed quickly told them what had happened, and even showed them his ID.
At first, Ahmed wrote on Instagram, the officers spoke the him in a "respectful manner." But Ahmed claims the officers decided he was the intoxicated man they had been called about, and tried to arrest him.
In the video, an officer can be heard saying that Ahmed is "under the influence." Ahmed said another officer told his father that they had smelled marijuana on him.
Even as Ahmed is handcuffed in the video, his neighbors can be heard angrily questioning the police about the arrest.
"He lives here," someone said, "this is our neighbor."
Police told bystanders, "We don't answer to you," as they asked why Ahmed was being detained.
Ahmed was charged with resisting arrest, disorderly conduct, and cited for possessing a small amount of marijuana. But many say his charges should be dropped because of the ugly circumstances of his arrest.
Court documents reportedly confirmed that officers never spoke to the person they were originally searching for.
Ahmed told HuffPost he was "without a doubt" a victim of racial profiling. And while he doesn't deny that he had marijuana on his person, he said it "was such a small amount that I didn't even know I had it."
Montgomery County police have declined to comment on the video or Ahmed's arrest so far.
As of now, this good neighbor will need to wait for his day in court to tell his side of the story. He's set to appear before a judge sometime in January.
[H/T: Yahoo Lifestyle, HuffPost, Newsweek]
