A co-op owner is being hailed a hero for refusing to turn over cash and property to an undercover cop during a raid on a local barbershop.
In a video posted to Facebook by the Charlotte Cox Cooperative, the owner of Cooper Beach Southampton, which is located just south of the coastal town of Bryn Mawr, said he did not feel compelled to hand over the cash and items after he was ordered to by the city.
The video has since been shared more than 1,500 times and has been viewed more than 3.5 million times.
Cooper Beach South Southampton owner Chris Cox said he was told he had to hand the cash to a police officer after the raid on his barbershops.
The barbers’ owner said he had been approached by a man who said he owed money.
The owner said the man claimed to be the boss of the local co-operative and demanded the owner’s personal property.
Coop owner Chris Coombs said the cop told him the money was a stolen credit card.
Coombs said he handed over $5,000 and told the officer the police had the right to search his property.
“I’m just sitting there and he’s like, ‘You’re not handing over the money,'” the owner said.
“He was like, I don’t have the money.
I told him, ‘This is what you owe me.’
I said, ‘No you’re not.
This is the credit card that you gave me.'”
Coopers owner Chris C. Cox said that he handed the cash over to a man.
He said he didn’t feel compelled and that he was being used as a tool by the police.
“They were trying to intimidate me,” the owner added.
Cox said the owner did not know the police officer was an undercover officer.
In response to the video, Cox said in a statement, “The man’s story is very distressing, but I was never threatened with any violence.
The cop, however, was clearly trying to coerce me into handing over money to him.”
This man has nothing to hide and nothing to fear.
I do not have any problem with the police, but when someone is using the police as a weapon, I think we all should be concerned.
“Cooper is a small community of about 1,000 people on the southern tip of North Carolina.
More to come.