“We continue to welcome the support and assistance of true partners who wish to work together with us to achieve solutions that will improve the policies and practices of law enforcement,” Gasper said.
The American Civil Liberties Union of Michigan filed the federal lawsuit against the Michigan State Police on behalf of a Black couple on Wednesday, arguing the agency has failed to review its own practices to address its disproportionate rates of pulling over African Americans.
The case was filed on behalf of Camara Sankofa and Shanelle Thomas, who were pulled over in August 2019 and detained for nearly two hours in Oak Park while state troopers conducted a search of the couple and their vehicle. The officer who pulled Sankofa and Thomas over said they had run a red light, yet Sankofa, the driver, was issued no citation or ticket for a violation. The ACLU of Michigan shared a video of the couple and the traffic stop.
ACLU sues Michigan State Police for racial profiling during traffic stop
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The American Civil Liberties Union filed a lawsuit against the Michigan State Police over claims of racial profiling.
The ACLU hosted a press conference about the lawsuit on June 23, 2021, on their Facebook page, where an attorney said data from the Michigan State Police showed troopers pulled over Black drivers at a disproportionate rate. Although African Americans are 14% of Michigan’s population, they represented 17% of traffic stops by MSP in 2017, they represented 19% in 2018 and 20% in 2019, said ACLU attorney Mark Fancher.
In the federal lawsuit, a Black couple said a state trooper stopped them, questioned them and then searched their car for two hours without cause. The traffic stop occurred in August 2019 on 8 Mile Road in Detroit. The ACLU posted dash camera footage of the traffic stop on their YouTube page.
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