Unlawful Hot Dog Vendor Gets Wallet Emptied by Cop, 5000 People Donate $84,000 and Rising

The internet has a bone to pick with Berkeley PD with the way they treated hot dog vendor Beto when they discovered that he was selling without a permit. After a citation was issued by the officer, he went on to take all the cash that the street vendor had on him, a typical procedure for documenting the financial gains of the operation. The police proceeded to then confiscate the money in Beto’s wallet and this is where the law lost its support from the community, many denouncing the act as unnecessary and overboard. Take a look at the footage below for reference.

The video blew up online and a gofundme campaign aiming for $10,000 USD called Justice4Juan began in Beto’s name, at the time his identity still unknown. Once the word started spreading about the fundraiser the flood gates opened, receiving $83,615 USD (as of Friday Sept 15 @ 7:52 PM) to help this hot dog vendor with any legal fees and personal loses he might’ve incurred through the incident.

Martin Flores, organizer of the campaign, announced on Thursday September 14th that he had identified and found Beto as well as announcing the official check presentation to take place on the 23rd of this month in Berkeley. Our friendly neighborhood vendor has announced that he plans on launching his own food truck with these funds, a dream he’s been sitting on for a very long time. A particularly difficult incident has led to a man’s dream come true only possible by the power of the online community, truly a beautiful turn of events!

via The Free Thought Project