NORTHEAST MIAMI-DADE, FLA. (WSVN) - Malcolm Harvard, a record label and recording studio owner, said an encounter with a South Florida police officer crossed the line.
Harvard owns a record label called Black Billions and a recording studio in Northeast Miami-Dade where he works with recording artists like “Yung Solo,” who was present during the encounter.
Harvard said he and Solo were scheduled for a recording session on Saturday, at around 9 p.m. Solo said he was sitting in his car outside the studio with his fiancée, who is seven months pregnant, when Harvard pulled up next to him. A Miami-Dade Police cruiser soon followed.
“He brings his gun out now, there. You see him reaching for it. He pulled it out just now, and he’s asking me to get back in the vehicle,” said Harvard as he described the incident captured on surveillance video.
“I’m stating, ‘You have your gun out. I’m not getting back in my car so you you can shoot me. I’ve seen this too many times before,'” said Harvard.
The Black Billions owner said he demanded the officer call his supervisor. “Backup came. Backup wanted nothing to do with the situation,” said Harvard.
Harvard, who is married with a 1-year-old daughter, has a full-time job and has been in the music business for 10 years and at the Northeast Miami-Dade location for two years. He said he was outraged by what happened to him.
Police said that officers have discretion in how they handle suspicious incidents.
“We do allow officers to use their discretion in determining how they are going to address what they perceive as threats,” said Miami-Dade Police Lt. Juan Villalba. “This was a uniformed police officer in a marked patrol car, patrolling an area that has experienced increased burglaries in the recent months. This officer encountered two vehicles parked in an area where businesses should have been closed.”
Harvard said the encounter could have been avoided.
“If this is a bad area, and you are trying to protect [it], the first idea I would give law enforcement is first get to know the business owners,” he said. “There’s millions of other African-Americans out there going through the same thing right now that don’t have a voice. I’ll be the for voice for them.”
The situation was the first of its kind for Yung Solo.
“I’ve never had a gun drawn on me. I think it was really bad,” he said.
“This won’t go unnoticed,” said Harvard. “You will not come to places of business, draw your gun, racially profile and assume it goes under the rug.”
Villalba said he would be willing speak with Harvard to clear up the conflict.
“We pride ourselves in that our core values are integrity, respect, service and fairness, that we always endeavor to be fair,” he said. “We would be happy to discuss this with him. We are here to serve.”
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