CLEAR THE AIR

Public Should Learn Details Of OHP Suit

The Oklahoma Highway Patrol has settled a lawsuit against it by a black
Army sergeant, a decorated veteran of Desert Storm, who, with his
12-year-old son, was stopped and detained for two hours in August 1998,
while troopers repeatedly searched his car for drugs.

Sgt. 1st Class Rossano Gerald alleged in a lawsuit filed on his behalf by
the American Civil Liberties Union that he and his son were made to sit in
a sweltering patrol car while troopers did more than $1,000 damage to his
red Nissan sports car, even after a drug-sniffing dog failed repeatedly to
indicate the presence of any drugs. The incident occured on Interstate 40
near the Arkansas border, shortly after Gerald had entered the state. He
eventually was given a warning ticket for an improper lane change.

Gerald's suit claimed that the OHP singles out black drivers for traffic
stops and drug searches based on a "drug courier profile," a claim that
Public Safety Commissioner Bob Ricks has denied. According to court records
the suit against the OHP and four individual troopers was settled on April
19, before it was to begin trial on Monday.

The out-of-court settlement and the few facts that have come to light in
the case are reason for embarrassment and alarm in Oklahoma. Unfortunately,
U.S. District Judge David Russell of Oklahoma City issued an order that
permits the Highway Patrol to keep the amount of the settlement secret. The
judge also permitted the OHP, at its request, to seal numerous records
dealing with the case and to destroy those records when the case concludes.

Oklahoma citizens should be outraged at this curtain of secrecy. If
taxpayers' money is to be paid in settlement of a lawsuit against public
employees, then Oklahoma citizens have the right to know how much and what
for. And if records exist suggesting that Oklahoma's top law enforcement
agency engages in the deplorable practice of racial profiling, then
Oklahoma citizens deserve -- should demand -- to know of those records.

The judge dismissed most of Gerald's claims that the OHP and the four
troopers violated the equal protection clause of the U.S. Constitution and
engaged in race discrimination. The judge ruled that Gerald could not prove
race discrimination because OHP in most cases did not record the race of
drivers it stopped as part of its effort to intercept drug traffickers.

The settlement apparently involved the remaining claims, that an
unreasonable search and seizure was conducted.

Was Gerald's and his son's nightmare experience an isolated incident or
part of a pattern of unacceptable behavior by Oklahoma law officers?
Oklahoma citizens can know the answer to that only if all the details of
this case are made known.