FAMILY ALLEGES RACIAL PROFILING

Police Pulled Over Truck, Detained Occupants Because They Were Black,
Lawsuit Says

A federal lawsuit filed Tuesday accuses Henderson and Las Vegas police of
ordering family members out of a truck at gunpoint and detaining them for
an hour solely because they are black.

Officials in both police departments declined to comment. The lawsuit is
the second in a month to allege Las Vegas police violated citizens' civil
rights through racial profiling.

North Las Vegan Terry Anderson alleges Henderson and Las Vegas police
handcuffed him, his sister and his nephew and left them sitting in patrol
cruisers for an hour in July before releasing them without a citation or
formal warning.

Anderson, an Army veteran and former corrections officer, said that when he
asked police why they pointed shotguns and handguns at him in the incident,
he was told his family was driving a vehicle with out- of-state license
plates in a neighborhood troubled by drugs.

The 36-year-old and his family said they have no doubt they were targeted
for harassment because of race.

"I didn't do anything wrong, and they know I didn't do anything wrong,"
Anderson said Tuesday morning while surrounded by his family in his
attorney's downtown office. "I was trying to stay calm because if you
cooperate long enough, they'll let you go."

Attorneys for Anderson and the American Civil Liberties Union of Nevada
said the incident is one of many reported to them recently by Hispanics and
blacks.

"We get calls every day from people who are stopped for driving while black
or walking while black," said John Costo, Anderson's attorney and a member
of the Nevada ACLU's board of directors. "You're going to see more of these
lawsuits in the next couple of weeks, especially when police continue to
deny this (racial profiling) ever happens."

Lt. Vincent Cannito, a spokesman for Las Vegas police, said he could not
comment on the lawsuit. He spoke about the allegation made by the attorney
and the ACLU the department has denied racial profiling occurs.

"Does it happen? We know of no major concerns," Cannito said. "Can it
happen? Is there a possibility? Sure. But we're addressing that to find out."

Cannito said patrol officers next month will start filling out cards
recording the race of suspects during traffic stops. The results will be
forwarded to the Nevada attorney general's office as part of a racial
profiling study to be released in February 2003.

Anderson said he was driving a U-Haul truck north on Boulder Highway on
July 18 and moving his sister Tina Lemon's belongings from El Paso, Texas,
to North Las Vegas. Also inside the rental truck's cab were Anderson's
5-year-old daughter and Lemon's 18-year-old son, Javon Luna.

Anderson said he realized he made a wrong turn, pulled over to the side of
the road near Boulder Highway and Russell Road and prepared to turn around.
Then Anderson saw a Henderson police sport utility vehicle pull up behind
him and turn on its roof lights.

Anderson said that within minutes a police helicopter was hovering
overhead, and more Henderson and Las Vegas police officers arrived, drawing
their weapons when they got out of their cruisers.

"They were pointing them (guns) at us. It was scary," said Luna, who
expects to go to Army basic training in two weeks. "After I got out, they
cocked the shotgun."

Anderson, Luna and Lemon were ordered out of the U-Haul one at a time and
placed in police cars while officers ran checks on their identification
cards to check for warrants, the family said.

Lemon said that when she asked why she was being detained, officers taunted
her by saying things like "Welcome to Las Vegas."

Anderson said that when he asked why he was being arrested, one of the
officers told him, "You're not under arrest, you're just being detained."

Anderson said he told the officer he was a former corrections officer and
knew the officer's reasoning for stopping them was not sufficient.

"Then he told me he saw me make an illegal lane change, but I didn't,"
Anderson said. "His story changed."

Anderson said besides skin color, he thinks officers might have targeted
them because both he and Luna were clad in baggy clothing, and Luna was
clad in a "do-rag" head-wrap.

"But do-rags and baggy clothes don't mean you're a drug dealer or gangsta,"
Anderson said.

Nevada ACLU Executive Director Gary Peck said the incident is not only a
case of racial profiling but a public safety issue because officers trained
firearms on unarmed citizens without probable cause to think they were a
threat.

"Police can't point guns at people just because they're black. They can't
do that to anyone. This should be an object lesson to the departments on
how not to behave," Peck said.