Testimony from Amnesty International USA's hearings on Racial Profiling

Victims Accounts of Racial Profiling While Walking

Racial profiling also occurs on the streets when police officers "stop and frisk" pedestrians. In 1968, in order to allow officers more leeway in apprehending criminals, the Supreme Court lowered the standards for police to more freely engage in these procedures. In Terry v. Ohio, the Court ruled that officers could temporarily detain and search people if they had "reasonable suspicion" – not the higher standard of "probable cause" – that the individual may be involved in criminal activity. This decision allows for great police discretion and subjectivity, increasing the potential for race-based stops by permitting officers to act preemptively.

THE CASE OF DONALD BOYD

Such enormous discretionary power leaves room for abuse and opens the door for race-based pedestrian stops.25 Consider the case of Donald Boyd of Chicago, a former corrections officer and current Regional Vice President for the U.S. Department of Housing and Development.

Donald Boyd answers questions after speaking at a press conference about his experience as a victim of racial profiling

Mr. Boyd says he has been profiled in his neighborhood over a dozen times. In one instance two plainclothed officers stopped Mr. Boyd, a sixty two-year-old African American, as he walked down the street. They asked him what he had been sold in the public housing development he had just passed. He responded that he had not been sold anything, at which point the officers attempted to search him.When Mr. Boyd refused, he was cuffed and searched. Though nothing was found on his body, he was told he was being charged with possession of a controlled substance. Mr. Boyd was apparently swept up in a neighborhood roundup. He spent the night in jail and the next day appeared at a bond hearing where he was told he would have to post $5,000 bail. Ultimately found innocent, Mr. Boyd told Amnesty International USA,

"They loaded 45 people into a van that was supposed to hold 32. They were all almost black or Latino. . . .They shouted obscenities at us through the hole. . . . Several people, including myself, were assaulted by deputies for supposedly not complying with what they said. . . . I live in a community that has been destroyed with crime and drugs. . . . I am a citizen and I deserve my rights . . . They did not give me a Miranda. They did not tell me I had rights."

THE CASE OF ANDREW CHO AND HIS STUDENTS

AIUSA also received written testimony based on a conversation from the National Asian Pacific American Legal Consortium (NAPALC) describing an encounter Mr. Andrew Cho had with law enforcement officers in Seattle.

Mr. Cho was a leadership program counselor for a group of about 30 high school students. The group was composed of individuals from Japanese, Chinese, Korean, Filipino and Vietnamese ancestry. In the summer of 2001, as the group walked from their lunch break to an artists' event in the Chinatown- International district, they were confronted by police. As half of the group waited for a red pedestrian light to join the rest of their party, a police officer yelled through the loudspeaker,

" Do you know how to cross the street? Do you know how to speak English? "

The last question was repeated four or five times. When one student answered, “Yes, we speak English,” the officer reportedly searched her in an attempt to find weapons. Another girl from the group spoke up saying,

"This would not have happened to us if we had blond hair and blue eyes."

The officer forcefully grabbed her wrist and cited her for jaywalking.When he tried to comfort the group, Mr. Cho was told by police to “Back off.” The group was allowed to leave after the police sergeant arrived. The incident lasted forty-five minutes. Afterwards, the group reportedly saw a white individual crossing the street on a red light. The officers did not stop that pedestrian.

THE CASE OF SANTIAGO VILLANUEVA

Racial profiling can sometimes have deadly consequences. Consider the testimony of Ms. Nina Paulino of the Santiago Villanueva Justice Committee at the hearings in New York City.

Ms. Paulino told us the story of her friend Santiago Villanueva. Mr. Villanueva was from the Dominican Republic, did not speak English, and had dreadlocks; he also had epilepsy.He was in Bloomfield, New Jersey when he experienced an epileptic seizure.When police arrived on the scene they saw an African- American man with dreads seizing on the ground and assumed he was on drugs. Officers harassed Mr. Villanueva and insisted that he speak English. They threw him on the ground and one officer put his knee on Mr. Villanueva’s neck while another placed a knee on his back. Mr. Villanueva stopped breathing and was given oxygen. He reportedly gained consciousness for a short while and was handcuffed in the ambulance the entire way to the hospital where he died. Ms. Paulino says,

"[T]he police came and saw him and automatically said this man is on drugs, although they had over ten witnesses saying no, he’s epileptic, he’s having a seizure . . . One of them put a knee on his neck, another on his back, handcuffed him, and took the last breath out of his lungs.28 The officers were indicted for second-degree manslaughter. However, a judge dismissed the charges because no witness could identify which of the officers placed his knee on Mr. Villanueva’s back, which was determined as the cause of his death."

The officers were indicted for second-degree manslaughter. However, a judge dismissed the charges because no witness could identify which of the officers placed his knee on Mr. Villanueva's back, which was determined as the cause of his death.