Run-in with Sampson deputy leaves driver feeling unsafe

"In lieu of Black History Month I felt compelled to share my experience ... with an officer of the Sampson County police department," Ace Perry wrote. "While it is ever so important to celebrate and uplift our heritage and progress in America with regard to racial disparities, we must always continue to challenge racial injustice, inequalities and discrimination to show true honor to those that gave tirelessly to the cause."

Perry was pulled over, the deputy in the video tells him, because he was driving 65 mph in a 70-mph zone.

"You're driving 65, and you know the speed limit is 70. I'm just wondering what's wrong. I mean, are you OK?" the deputy, who is white, asked Perry.

"I'm just checking on you. That's all I'm doing," he said.

The deputy went on to ask Perry for the registration of the car he was driving. Perry explained that it was a rental and showed the deputy a confirmation on his phone.

As the deputy continued to question him – about his home address, the length of the car rental and his destination – Perry asked, "I'm trying to understand the relation to the traffic stop. ... I have to identify where I'm traveling to and from during the trip out here? ... I don't understand."

The deputy stepped away and returned with a written warning for Perry, for traveling under the speed limit.

"Wouldn't you say it is kind of suspicious to travel under the speed limit and when the speed limit is 70?" the deputy asked before he dismissed Perry, telling him, "I've got stuff to do."

In his post to Facebook, Perry wrote, "I do not feel safe nor comfortable after this obvious misuse of power. Civil servants must remember their primary function is to serve and protect, and this officer has clearly lost sight of what that truly is."

A spokesman for the Sampson County Sheriff's Office said leaders there would review the in-car camera of the deputy involved. "Should personnel action be necessary, we will take appropriate action," he said, noting that Perry has not filed a formal complaint.

"In regards to the law regarding stopping someone under the speed limit, please keep in mind an officer only needs reasonable suspicion to stop a vehicle," the spokesman added.