Durham police accused of racial profiling in lawsuit

[KamaAina]

http://www.wncn.com/story/28946411/durham-police-accused-of-racial-profiling-in-lawsuit

Keith Ragland, 44, filed a lawsuit on Wednesday claiming he was profiled by Durham police officers during a traffic stop in November 2012....

Ragland, who is black and identifies himself as having a physical disability, said he was meeting his wife for dinner when a friend saw him and got in his vehicle to talk.

Ragland said multiple police officers then approached his vehicle, shined their flashlight and requested his driver's license. He said he asked the officers for their names and badge numbers, but Ragland said the officer refused his request.

Ragland said five more officers, who claimed to part of a gang unit, arrived and proceeded to ask him how he could afford his vehicle.

[struggle4progress]

1. It's possible some officers engage in profiling, but there's no chance that's sanctioned by anybody

at the top. This is a solidly liberal D town, with 49% minority population. The schools solved the problem of white flight years ago by merging the city and county school systems. The mayor and mayor pro tem are both black. The board of county commissioners is majority black, with a black chair and black vice-chair. Half the state representatives for the county are black; half the state senators for for the county are black; all the state representatives and senators for the county are Ds. The chief of police is Hispanic

That, of course, doesn't necessarily keep some people from being jerks ...