Police in Tiburon, California demanded Yema Khalif. a black business owner, prove the store he owns is his after they spotted him working in it late into the night.
Police officers are seen in video of the exchange, asking Khalif: “This street closes at 9 o’clock at night and there’s never anybody in here. This isn’t regular business hours, there’s no customers in there. Is it your store that’s all we want to know? I want to know what you’re doing in the store at 1 o’clock in the morning.”
One of the officers asked Khalif to prove ownership by putting his key in the door.
Khalif told KGO: “He demands to know what we are doing at the store at 1 o’clock in the morning and he wants me to prove who I am. This particular day we had just received a huge inventory and we just wanted to come out and put the inventory out before Saturday morning. … I did feel racially profiled.”
The town of Tiburon has opened up an investigation by an independent attorney.
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