Lawsuit: Law officers unfair to blacks in Mississippi county
Source: Associated Press
Emily Wagster Pettus, Associated Press Updated 3:14 pm, Monday, May 8, 2017
JACKSON, Miss. (AP) Law enforcement officers in one majority-white Mississippi county are unfairly targeting black people for traffic stops and searches of homes and property without reasonable suspicion of wrongdoing, a civil rights group claims in a new federal lawsuit.
The American Civil Liberties Union of Mississippi on Monday sued the sheriff's department in the Jackson suburb of Madison County. The suit seeks a court order against what it calls "a coordinated top-down program" that creates unequal treatment of black and white people. It also seeks a civilian board to review complaints against the department.
Sheriff Randy Tucker would not immediately comment Monday because he had not seen the lawsuit, spokesman Heath Hall said. Tucker, who is white, took office in 2012.
ACLU Mississippi executive director Jennifer Riley-Collins said problems in Madison County have existed for generations. The lawsuit says Tucker has continued longstanding policies, including warrantless searches of black residents' homes and seizure of their property, vehicle roadblocks that target black people and "jump out" patrols by plainclothes deputies that target black people for searches.
Read more: http://www.chron.com/news/crime/article/Lawsuit-Law-officers-unfair-to-blacks-in-11129765.php
Solly Mack
(90,762 posts)TeamPooka
(24,221 posts)trof
(54,256 posts)White police officers would be unfair to Blacks in MISSISSIPPI?
Damn.
That's just unfathomable.
Nitram
(22,791 posts)Nina Simone: