By representing two African-American drivers claiming a Miami-Dade police officer separately pulled them over and pointed a gun at their heads without good cause, Fort Lauderdale civil rights litigator Yechezkel Rodal said he hopes to start a conversation.

“What do we think, as a society, should be the role of police? That's a conversation that I really want to get started with this complaint, and to just have a real, honest, open conversation about the role of race, the role of implicit bias and the role of police in society,” Rodal said.

Real estate broker Robert Menard and high school track coach Steven Payne didn't know each other until Rodal united them with a lawsuit, accusing Miami-Dade County and police officer Carlos Angulo of civil rights violations, battery and false imprisonment.