- A new lawsuit alleges that the Rodeo Drive police unit engaged in egregious racial profiling by stopping and arresting Black people without cause.
- The complaint alleges that out of the 106 people arrested by the task force, 105 were Black, 1 was Latino, and 0 were White.
- The plaintiffs in the suit claim the police detained them “without any reasonable suspicion or probable cause” demanded their IDs even though they hadn’t committed a crime.
Sam Levin from The Guardian writes:
“Nearly all the people arrested by a Beverly Hills police taskforce over the past year were Black, according to a new lawsuit which alleges egregious racial profiling in the wealthy California city.
The complaint, filed Tuesday by the prominent civil rights lawyer Benjamin Crump, alleges that out of 106 people arrested by a Beverly Hills police “safe streets” taskforce, 105 were Black and one was a dark-skinned Latino person. Between March 2020 and July 2021, the unit unjustly stopped and arrested Black civilians who were roller skating, scootering, driving and jaywalking a few feet outside the crosswalk, the suit said.
The unit, also known as the Rodeo Drive taskforce, was set up last year in response to “a significant increase in calls for service in our business community”, according to the city, which is one of the richest municipalities in the US and less than 2% Black.
The plaintiffs in the suit, which was filed as a class action, are Jasmine Williams and Khalil White, a couple on vacation in Beverly Hills last September. They had been riding a scooter when police detained them “without any reasonable suspicion or probable cause”, lawyers wrote, saying officers demanded their IDs to run their names through a criminal database even though they hadn’t committed a crime.
The couple “peacefully” objected to the officers “abusing their police powers” and were subsequently handcuffed and arrested on “multiple fabricated charges”, the complaint said, adding that prosecutors later dropped the charges…”
See full story here.
Categories: Government, Politics, WTF?
Economic Left 
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