`DRIVING WHILE BLACK OR BROWN'

Latino Attorney Sues CHP Highway Stops Were A Result Of Racial
Profiling, He Alleges

A Latino lawyer from San Jose filed a federal lawsuit Thursday against
the California Highway Patrol and the state Bureau of Narcotics
Enforcement, charging he was pulled over because of a
drug-interdiction program he contends wrongly targets minority drivers.

The case, filed on behalf of Curtis Rodriguez by the American Civil
Liberties Union and a private San Francisco law firm, marks a new and
important development in an emotional nationwide debate about
discrimination and traffic stops. The ACLU, which has filed similar
suits in eight other states, released a report Thursday examining the
issue. Also this week, the San Jose Police Department voluntarily
began keeping data on traffic stops to examine whether it
disproportionately stops members of any ethnic group.

The attorneys who filed the lawsuit said it is the first time the CHP
formally has been accused of a systematic program of racial profiling,
or using ethnic stereotypes to shape law-enforcement decision-making.
And they said at a news conference they hope it will persuade other
police agencies in the state to end a practice they consider widespread.

``The war on drugs has taken a tremendous toll on the vast majority of
people of color who are innocent and law-abiding,'' said attorney
Michelle Alexander, director of the Northern California ACLU's Racial
Justice Project. ``We intend to put an end to racial profiling in the
state of California.''

46or years, many African-Americans and Latinos have complained of
police pulling them over for the sarcastically dubbed offense of
``driving while black'' or ``driving while brown.''

Rodriguez and the attorneys representing him want a judge to rule that
the practice is illegal. They also are seeking an injunction barring
racial profiling, and they ask for unspecified monetary damages and
improved tracking of the ethnic backgrounds of people stopped on state
highways.

``When you're out on the highway, the CHP is the law,'' Rodriguez
said. ``So who do you turn to when the CHP is mistreating you?''

New Jersey case cited

CHP Commissioner Dwight O. Helmick, who also is named as a defendant
in the case, said in a statement that his agency does not condone
racial profiling and is reviewing its practices in light of
controversy on the East Coast about profile use. After years of
denial, New Jersey officials recently reversed themselves and
acknowledged state troopers there have used profiles.

``I want to assure California citizens that I will do everything in my
power to make sure racial profiling does not happen here,'' Helmick
said, adding that people should not infer from the suit that the CHP
has used a profile.

A CHP spokeswoman said no one was available to address specific
allegations in the lawsuit or to elaborate on Helmick's
three-paragraph statement. Representatives of the Bureau of Narcotics
Enforcement and its parent agency, the Attorney General's Office,
declined comment.

At issue in the latest case are events that occurred almost a year ago
on a stretch of Highway 152 near Pacheco Pass.

On June 6, Rodriguez was driving with a fellow lawyer when they
noticed three Latino drivers had been stopped on a stretch of the
road. Thinking that bias might be a factor, Rodriguez said, he began
concentrating on his driving so he could avoid being pulled over,
while his friend used a camera to document two more stops. Rodriguez
eventually was pulled over himself.

He said the officer who stopped him said it was because his headlights
were on and that he drove on a painted line. Rodriguez noted drivers
are encouraged to use their headlights on that stretch.

Rodriguez said the officer asked for permission to search the car, and
after he refused, the officer searched it anyway.

He said the officer also had a drug-detecting dog sniff his and his
friend's driver's licenses, and that after about an hour, the officer
let the men go without citing them.

``What happened on Pacheco Pass that day was illegal, it was immoral,
it was racist, and it's high time these practices stop,'' Rodriguez
said at the news conference.

Operation Pipeline

Attorneys alleged the stop occurred under a federal drug-interdiction
program called Operation Pipeline. Alexander contended that whenever
officers participate in such efforts, they ``inevitably'' rely on
using racial stereotypes.

Also named as defendants in the case are Bureau of Narcotics
Enforcement Chief Joe Doane and the officer who pulled over Rodriguez.
Alexander said the ACLU might file a class-action lawsuit if further
investigation warrants it.

Meanwhile, San Jose is receiving plaudits for agreeing to keep
statistics on stops to examine whether officers unfairly stop members
of any group. The yearlong program began Tuesday, and the department
is scheduled to present preliminary statistics at its halfway mark.

Legislation has been proposed in Congress and in California and other
states to make mandatory the type of record-keeping San Jose and other
agencies are conducting.

In an attempt to support the California measure mandating tracking of
traffic stops, the ACLU has maintained a telephone hotline, (877)
DWB-STOP, that has received 1,650 calls from people who say they were
stopped because of their race rather than a legitimate traffic violation.

The ACLU previously has sued several other state law-enforcement
agencies alleging they use racial profiles, including pending cases in
Maryland, Illinois, New Jersey and Oklahoma. In those suits,
statistics show disproportionate numbers of minorities have been
stopped, said John Crew, another ACLU attorney.