Two Black LAPD officers say they were among those racially profiled by the Beverly Hills Police Department, according to an attorney representing plaintiffs in a class-action lawsuit against the city. The lawsuit alleges Beverly Hills police engaged in a pattern of targeting Black people on and around Rodeo Drive.
The LAPD officers were both on-duty members of the SWAT unit but driving unmarked cars, according to attorney Bradley Gage. One was in uniform. The stops allegedly were for traffic violations. Gage said one of the officer reported having a gun pulled on him.
The Beverly Hills Police Department did not immediately respond to a written request for comment. In the past, it has said it polices without regard to race.
Lawsuit alleges history of discrimination
"It tells us it doesn't matter who you are in Beverly Hills," said Gage. "If you are a police officer getting pulled over for driving while Black, the ordinary citizen should be terrified going to the city of Beverly Hills if you're Black."
Nationally recognized attorney Benjamin Crump, who represented the family of George Floyd, is also representing plaintiffs in this case, which was first filed in 2021. Crump and Gage are asking for $500 million in damages.
Last month, they said new numbers showed that of more than 1,000 Black people arrested, only two were convicted of crimes.
At that time, Shepherd York, 47, said police pulled him over for expired tags and held him in jail for three days for allegedly not paying restitution in an old DUI case.
“I’m still traumatized," he said. "I’m uncomfortable being in Beverly Hills. I no longer work in Beverly Hills."
Beverly Hills responded in a statement that called the stats misleading — because they include people who were cited and released. The statement also said police enforce the law regardless of race.
The backstory
The lawsuit initially was brought by Jasmine Williams, 30, and Khalil White, 24. The Philadelphia couple was arrested by Beverly Hills police during a visit in September 2020. They were riding a scooter together at the time of the arrest.
“We were enjoying ourselves on vacation,” Khalil said in 2021. “The arrest was traumatizing.” He said they were riding the scooter on the sidewalk, which is legal in their home city.
Khalil, who said he had visited Beverly Hill five times previously with no issues, spent the night in jail. Williams spent about eight hours behind bars. They were charged with two misdemeanors — riding a scooter on the sidewalk and resisting arrest.
LAist analyzed arrest data provide by the city of Beverly Hills in October 2021 and found that nearly all of the people arrested by a special unit of the Beverly Hills Police Department assigned to Rodeo Drive during a two-month period in 2020 year were Black. From that report:
We requested the information after two people filed a class-action lawsuit accusing police of targeting Black people on the world-famous street because of their race.
The data shows 80 of the 90 people who were arrested were Black. Three were white. Almost all of those arrested were males between the ages of 18 and 30.
Two percent of the city’s residents identify as Black and 78% identify as white, according to the 2020 Census.
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