Earl Sampson

Earl Sampson is a black man from Miami Gardens, Florida, who, beginning in 2008, was repeatedly arrested by police for trespassing while he was at his own place of employment. The Miami Gardens Police Department convinced the owner of the Quickstop convenience store, Alex Saleh, to sign up for "The Zero-Tolerance Zone Trespassing Program". Afterwards police began targeting black customers who were standing in line to buy items at the store. Police officers also focused their attention on Sampson, whose only criminal conviction was for marijuana possession. During the five-year period from 2008 to 2013, Sampson was "unlawfully stopped-and-frisked, searched, seized, and/or arrested 288 times," for a total of 63 arrests, 33 of which resulted in court action. He was also searched over 100 times and jailed at least 56 times; the majority of all these events occurred at the Quickstop. Sampson pleaded guilty to the trespassing charges filed against him, since pleading not guilty would have meant remaining in jail, posting bond, meeting trial dates, and spending money.