Martin Flores, an alumnus at uc berkeley, was buying a bacon hot dog from a vendor on campus for his children following a Cal’s game when it happened. A UCPD officer approached the hot dog vendor and cited him for running a hot dog stand illegally on campus.

Flores decided to capture the exchange on video using his phone, which showed the UCPD officer taking cash from the vendor’s wallet, folding it and holding it in his hand. While the vendor stood by, objecting to the officer taking his money, the officer puts the cash away and starts writing the citation.

UC Berkeley alumnus films UCPD officer

Flores can be heard saying repeatedly on the video that it wasn’t right and asking the UCPD officer why he has take the hot dog vendor’s hard earned cash. He tells the officer there were people drinking in public close by and that the officers should rather be targeting them. The officer responded by telling Flores the vendor doesn’t have a permit, saying this was “law and order in action” and thanking him for his support.

When KTVU-TV contacted UC police, they were told the officer had seized the money as evidence.

While campus officials gave no immediate response for a request for comment on Monday, they issued a brief statement in the Berkleyside blog to say they are aware of the incident. UC Berkeley spokesman Dan Mogulof told KTVU-TV that the officer in question had been given the task of enforcing vending violations on the campus by people without a permit and added that UCPD was investigating the situation.

Video of the incident goes viral on Facebook

Since Flores posted his video to Facebook on Saturday, it had reportedly received over 11.4 million views. However, the Sacramento Bee said by midday Monday the video appears to have been removed. However prior to its removal, the video was shared by other Facebook users and also ended up on Twitter.

The video is included here and readers are warned there is some strong language in the description on the Twitter post.

GoFundMe campaign going viral to help the vendor

Meanwhile, taking pity on the plight of the illegal vendor, who has been named only as Juan, Flores launched a petition to have the UCPD officer fired and has reportedly received 28,752 signatures at time of writing.

He also launched a GoFundMe campaign on the hot dog vendor’s behalf with a goal of $10,000.

At the time of writing, the campaign has raised $52,687 towards its goal from 3,471 donors in just two days. The hashtag #Justice4Juan is also doing the rounds on Twitter. Flores said he will not take any of the raised money for himself and that it will go towards covering any personal losses and legal expenses suffered by the vendor.
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