Police in Florida handcuffed a Latin pop singer in an intense traffic stop due to her allegedly having a counterfeit diplomatic license plate.
The arrest happened in Sunny Isles Beach last Tuesday and video of the traffic stop has since gone viral on social media, earning over 87,000 views as of this writing. According to NBC6 Florida, the woman was later identified as 32-year-old Cecilia Mercado, a singer who goes by the name Sessi with over 195,000 Instagram followers.
Though the video did not show how the stop began, police later clarified that they stopped Sessi after she made a wrong turn. When being questioned, the passenger filming the exchange said they felt “threatened” by police.
“Please bring your supervisor now, you’re reaching inside our vehicle, I feel threatened! You’re reaching inside our vehicle, I feel threatened, I feel threatened, I feel threatened!” the man yelled.
“Get off of her right now, get off of her right now…let her go, let her go right now!” the man added.
“It’s okay,” Sessi told the man.
“They have no jurisdiction over you,” the man replied. “She is not a United States citizen, they have no jurisdiction.”
When the officer pulled Sessi out of the car, she fell to the ground.
“You are going to get fired from your job and she is going to get $250,000,” the passenger yelled. “I will see you in court, I will see you in court. Hey, if you wanna play, I will see you in court.”
Police later handcuffed her.
“All you had to do was comply,” an officer told her
“I did, I gave you my passport,” she replied.
“No you did not, that was not a driver’s license,” the officer shot back.
In a statement, the Sunny Isles Police later said that Sessi had counterfeit diplomatic plates and that she claimed to have “immunity.”
“The video posted online does not capture the full incident from beginning to end,” the statement read. “The female driver shown in the video was stopped by our officers for traffic violations. She then stated she had ‘immunity.’ She repeatedly refused to comply with officers’ orders and was placed in handcuffs.”
The statement that an investigation determined the diplomatic tag on the car was “counterfeit and the female driver was arrested for driving with a counterfeit tag,” the statement said.
The plates reportedly had the words “diplomat” and “ambassador at large.” Per NBC6:
Mercado told officers the vehicle was registered with the U.S. Department of State, but police contacted a Department of State official who confirmed it wasn’t a valid diplomatic tag, the report said.
Records showed Mercado was booked into jail on a counterfeit license plate charge, and was given a $2,500 bond. Attorney information wasn’t available.
Sessi later went on Instagram Live to insist the plates were legitimate.
“There goes my tag, right there,” she said as she held a document to the camera. “It’s registered with the United States Department — look at that — DOT.”
Paul Roland Bois directed the award-winning Christian tech thriller, EXEMPLUM, which can be viewed for FREE on YouTube or Tubi. “Better than Killers of the Flower Moon,” wrote Mark Judge. “You haven’t seen a story like this before,” wrote Christian Toto. A high-quality, ad-free stream can also be purchased on Google Play or Vimeo on Demand. Follow him on Twitter @prolandfilms or Instagram @prolandfilms.
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