Hialeah police officer allegedly stops driver over 'F--- the police' song

Driver says controversial rap song prompted cop to issue traffic tickets

Hialeah police officer Harold Garzon

HIALEAH, Fla. ā€“ Hialeah police officer Harold Garzon asked Cesar Baldelomar not to get "smart" with him.

But the 26-year-old Harvard graduate and Florida International University law school student couldn't help it.

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Baldelomar told Miami New Times' Michael Miller that Garzon stopped him on Thanksgiving Day on his way to his parent's house in Hialeah for blasting N.W.A.'s "F--- The Police."

The song followed the police protest tradition of the 60s with songs like "Mississipi Goddam" by Nina Simone and "Alabama Blues" by J.B. Lenoir. The slur-filled rant resonated among rappers in the 1980s and prompted a "warning" from the FBI that upset First Amendment activists.

Decades later, in the streets of Hialeah, it upset Garzon. The officer claimed it was illegal to play loud music within 25 feet of another person.

Baldelomar then said the Florida Supreme Court struck down laws banning loud music in 2012, according to the Miami New Times.Ā 

Baldelomar told Miller that Garzon said proof of insurance had to be on paper. Baldelomar said that about a year ago Florida allowed drivers to provide proof of insurance on tablets or phones. Garzon gave him three tickets for having an out-of-state license plate, for not having insurance and for not wearing a seat belt. Baldelomar is contesting all of them.

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