My latest case involves racial profiling. The cops were on patrol late one night, and they saw an African-American male who, for whatever reason, they didn't like the look of. So they approached him and demanded to see ID on the grounds that they suspected him of violating curfew (which only applies to people under age 18).
The problem is that our guy happens to be 28 years old, and he looks it, too. He has a full goatee. Greg Oden is 18 and looks like he's about 35; the same thing applies to our guy.
However, once he produced his ID which confirmed that he was 28, the cops decided to do a pat-down search anyway. In doing so, they found crack cocaine rocks in his pocket.
The suspected curfew violation was obviously a pretextual reason to stop this guy. The cops were clutching at straws; the fact is, they didn't like this black guy walking around late at night, and felt like checking him out. We will argue that the cops illegally swiped his ID card, because once they saw that he was actually 28, they had no reason to do a pat-down. I'll post more later on whether or not we win.
Even though I believe that what the cops did was wrong, you've got to hand it to them. Our guy was walking around with crack on his person, and the cops had some weird sixth sense telling them as much. They took one look at the guy and knew he was up to something. Maybe next time they'll find a way to catch him without violating his constitutional rights.
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2 comments:
I wonder if being a public defender (or working in the PD's office) has changed your opinion or attitude towards the police. I am a fairly law-abiding person, but I still distrust police--they seem like they are out to get you.
I have to be honest -- while a lot of PDs like hating on them, I think that 90% of cops are excellent. They are hard-working, honest and do their jobs really well.
Of the remainder, there are a few who just go through the motions. Then there are some who do honestly what they think needs doing without stopping to think first. And, finally, there is a very small group who intentionally break the rules -- for whatever reason.
Of course, I know clients who would argue that 90% of cops are evil, and 10% are OK. A matter of perspective?
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