Video: Black man arrested after helping drunk neighbour home

SILVER SPRING, Md. – A video posted online shows a black man being arrested after walking a drunken neighbour home.

Samir Ahmed tells news outlets he found a man passed out near his front yard in Silver Spring, Maryland, this month and helped him get home. He returned to find Montgomery County police officers looking to assist the drunken man.

Court documents say an officer then “detected a strong odour of marijuana emanating” from Ahmed, who denied possessing the drug and resisted arrest. Video captured by neighbours shows four officers then searched Ahmed. Police say officers found a small bag of marijuana.

Ahmed was arrested on charges including disorderly conduct and given a January court date. His lawyer says officers couldn’t have smelled unburned marijuana from inside Ahmed’s pocket. Police declined to comment.