Serafina Frederick, the multimedia editor of Headline Surfer, the 24/7 internet newspaper, was pulled over last year on Pioneer Trail in New Smyrna Beach by a Volusia County Sheriff's deputy and her SUV was searched for drugs (none was found). She has never even had a traffic ticket and she didn't get one that night either. The deputy claimed she did not come to a compete stop at an intersection, less than 2 miles from her home in the gated Sugar Mill Country Club development. Serafina Frederick is latina. Her husband, Henry Frederick, publisher of Headline Surfer, has been ticketed three times in the last decade for speeding. His cars have never been searched for drugs. He is white.
SANFORD -- People have repeatedly asked me my opinion about the not guilty verdict in the George Zimmerman trial, especially since I was among the reporters who covered it, having reported on the case almost from the onset, including the interview I had with Trayvon Martin's parents in Miami. I will get into it in my upcoming book, "Creepy Ass Cracker," which will hit bookstores in October.
I will tell you this, though: In my household, one of us was pulled over a year ago on Pioneer Trail and the vehicle searched for drugs. Was it me, a white guy, then-50, driving an Audi TT, with three speeding tickets over the past decade? After all, somebody driving fast in a sports car with prior tickets could be a suspected drug runner, right?
Wrong! I've never had the humiliation of having my vehicle searched for drugs. Then again, I'm just a white guy.
My wife, Serafina, born and raised in Puerto Rico and a proud Latina with dark brown skin, has never had a ticket of any kind. Then 42, she was pulled after passing through the intersection of Sugar Mill Drive and heading east on Pioneer Trail en route to Publix to pick up some snacks for our late-night work online.
The reason she was stopped? The Volusia County Sheriff's deputy claimed she didn't come to a complete stop at the intersection. She was asked to step out of her Jeep Liberty and asked if it was OK for the SUV to be searched. She wanted to know why and he responded, "drugs."
Again, my wife has never received a traffic ticket. She's never been arrested for anything. She was by herself (less than 2 miles from home) from the gated-Sugar Mill Country Club development where we live, late at night with a deputy with a gun and handcuffs. And he was white. She was afraid to speak. After all, she has a thick Latina accent and has been made fun of on more than one occasion.
The deputy said she had a right to refuse the search, but he could call for a k-9 unit to arrive within a matter of minutes. Frightened and not knowing what to do, she gave permission to search.
He searched the glove compartment, under the seats, under the seat covers, in between the seats, inside the ash tray, the door handle coin pockets and drink cup holders, inside the retractable stereo front, the rear tire well and the underside of the vehicle, including the tire rims.
The deputy was nice about the whole thing, especially after the fact; explaining that drug runners have women drive into the New Smyrna Beach onto Pioneer Trail in nondescript vehicles like her's, on the secondary road that spins off State Road 44 and is more remote. He then let her go without a ticket, even praising her for having a stellar driving record.
She didn't argue, but when she came home, reinforced to me this was one of the reasons why she doesn't always like living here as opposed to the more culturally and racially diverse Lake Mary and greater Orlando where some of her relatives live.
Suffice to say, I was upset and called the Sheriff's dispatch. A patrol supervisor called me back and claimed the deputy hadn't profiled my wife. How could the deputy have have, if it was dark and he couldn't see her face, the supervisor asked?
Then, to really get my blood boiling, he pointed out the deputy was nice enough not to give her a ticket for not coming to a complete stop, something he added she didn't dispute during the stop. I made it clear she was too afraid to speak up. After all, he pulled her over for a reason, didn't he? Even if she had not come to a complete stop, why then the drug search?
The patrol supervisor had no response. And why would there be a need to search the vehicle of a Puerto Rican woman with a driver's license showing a clean driving record and living in an upscale gated community?
The patrol supervisor said she consented to the search and if she had a problem, she could file a complaint. This wasn't something she wanted to make a big deal of and both of us have had an excellent relationship with Sheriff Ben Johnson in the five years we've published this 24/7 internet newspaper.
Johnson's predecessor, Bob Vogel, made national headlines back in the early- to mid-1990s for pulling over minorities on the interstates on suspicion of running drugs. But with the national debate over race with the backdrop of the Zimmerman acquittal that drug stop search has been gnawing at me for the better part of a week now, which led me to write about it here.
Why haven't the cops searched my vehicle for drugs any time, any where? Is it because I'm a white-skinned male with a Yankee accent? And why was my wife's vehicle searched for drugs? Is it because she's a dark brown-skinned female with a heavy Latina accent?
She's a law-abiding citizen yet she was suspected of transporting drugs simply because she has brown skin. The humiliating incident made her skin crawl. And it made my skin crawl, too! It should make your skin crawl, too, your's, regardless of your own race or ethnicity.
She's a law-abiding citizen yet she was suspected of transporting drugs simply because she has brown skin. The humiliating incident made her skin crawl. And it made my skin crawl, too! It should make your skin crawl, too, your's, regardless of your own race or ethnicity.
Here is a snapshot graphic copy of a deroggatory racist comment posted on the NSBShadow.com blogger site making a reference to Headline Surfer Publisher Henry Frederick's wife, Serafina Frederick, after she was screamed at by Oak Hill Commissioner Ron Engele who objected to her videotaping him from her seat in the front row two years ago during the hright of a scandal that saw the abolishment of the police force and the firing of the city clerk. In other anonymous comments on this particular site, several other such racist comments, including referring to the multi-media editor as a "mail-order bride," have been deleted by the site's owner, Nahum Litt.
In writing of what my wife has had to deal with simply because she has brown skin, I wonder how many white people have been pulled over and had their vehicles searched for drugs, especially those with a clean driving record and living in a nice neighborhood?
That my wife graduated from college with high honors, is very talented and positive in her approach to life and how she interacts with others, doesn't seem to matter to some people who can't seem to get past skin color.
Just a couple of months ago, I saw a New Smyrna Beach cop I know near the same place where my wife was pulled over. There was a Florida Highway Patrol trooper parked behind him.
I slowed, yelled out to the local cop, "Hey, maybe you should search my car for drugs!"
The trooper, who didn't know me, gave me a puzzled look while the local cop, affectionately waved me off, as I deliberately sped off. The NSB cop knew I was not pleased about the prior experience my wife had on the same stretch of road. I'm sure my cop friend let the trooper know why I was so brazen and sarcastic.