The Beverly Hills Police Department is being sued over allegations it targeted Black people on prestigious Rodeo Drive.
The court documents, obtained by TMZ, cites arrests of Black people, in some cases, for minor infractions.
Renowned civil rights attorney Ben Crump filed the lawsuit, claiming the City of Beverly Hills created a police task force to harass Black people for minor violations.
The result was 106 arrests – of which 105 detainees were Black. The one non-Black detainee was Latino. Crump says the Latino could have easily been mistaken as Black.
2 plaintiffs in the lawsuit — Jasmine Williams and Khalil White — say they were riding scooters on the sidewalk a year ago, when they were stopped by Beverly Hills cops.
They were handcuffed and taken into custody. According to the suit, prosecutors later dropped the case.
The lawsuit claims examples of other “crimes” for which Black people were arrested included roller skating, jaywalking and minor traffic infractions in Beverly Hills.
The lawsuit names BHPD Captain Scott Dowling as a defendant. Dowling allegedly directed officers “to seize, interrogate, use force, falsely arrest, and maliciously prosecute any African-Americans who traveled on Rodeo Drive” with the sole purpose of “keep[ing] out African-Americans, who were deemed as ‘criminals.”.
The lawsuit references another incident last October involving Salahe Bembury — VP of Sneakers and Men’s Footwear at Versace — who claimed he was detained by police for jaywalking.
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Tai decorated her daughter’s college apartment on a budget of less than $2,000.
Tai shared how she decorated the entire apartment on a budget of $2,000 below.
