MAGNA, Utah (ABC 4 News) - A man and his brother say they were confronted by a Unified Police officer because of their overly tinted car windows, but claim the officer also used "racial intimidation."
Irfan Rizvic was at a Magna Shell station Tuesday evening with his windows down, when he spotted a familiar car in a nearby parking lot that he did not want to see. Rizvic said it was a Unified police officer who had pulled him over once before for his dark tint, so he knew he'd probably get in trouble again. Rizvic decided to stay in the parking lot, hoping to avoid a ticket, but the officer pulled up next to him, and asked him to roll up his windows.
Rizvic’s brother Armin started recording the situation.
During the exchange, Armin Rizvic tells his brother, "No, don't do it, he has no right."
The officer can be heard responding, "Yes I do have a right and you want to go back to your country if you don't know your rights."
Rizvic claims the officer's remark was racial toward he and his brother, who are Bosnian. He said the comment coming from an officer was shocking and infuriating.
"For him as a government employee to pull out something like that, that's just unacceptable. That's the last person I’d expect it from lets just say that," Rizvic said.
Rizvic informed the officer he was being recorded and he says the officer changed his tone.
"He was so nice right after you won't even believe it," Rizvic said.
ABC 4 contacted Unified Police. They said there has not been a formal complaint by Rizvic, but that they are looking into this incident.
Rizvic said this whole thing could have played out much differently.
"It could have just been a, 'hey, you're driving with illegal tint... Da da da da,' No racist joke, no racist comment ok that's that, I could have gone and picked up my daughter and that's that, but he had to go turn this into a big old mess," said Rizvic.
It’s a mess he doesn't want to happen again.
"I hope this is just a learning curve for the officer himself," Rizvic said.
