September 2, 2021
HILLBILLY WHILE BLACK:
Beverly Hills: 99% of people arrested by 'safe streets' unit were Black, suit says (Sam Levin, 1 Sep 2021, The Guardian)
Nearly all the people arrested by a Beverly Hills police taskforce over the past year were Black, according to a new lawsuit which alleges egregious racial profiling in the wealthy California city.The complaint, filed Tuesday by the prominent civil rights lawyer Benjamin Crump, alleges that out of 106 people arrested by a Beverly Hills police "safe streets" taskforce, 105 were Black and one was a dark-skinned Latino person. Between March 2020 and July 2021, the unit unjustly stopped and arrested Black civilians who were roller skating, scootering, driving and jaywalking a few feet outside the crosswalk, the suit said.The unit, also known as the Rodeo Drive taskforce, was set up last year in response to "a significant increase in calls for service in our business community", according to the city, which is one of the richest municipalities in the US and less than 2% Black.
Posted by Orrin Judd at September 2, 2021 12:00 AM
