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NYCLU Sues City, NYPD Over Post Reporter's Stop-and-Frisk Arrest
By
Jen Chung
Published May 7, 2008
Modified May 7, 2008
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By
Jen Chung
Published May 7, 2008
Modified May 7, 2008
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The New York Civil Liberties Union filed a lawsuit accusing the city and NYPD of racial profiling on behalf of a NY Post reporter who was "stopped, arrested and jailed without justification" last November.
Leonardo Blair told his story in the Post late last year. Blair, a Jamaican immigrant who graduated from Columbia Journalism School in May 2007 and was living with his aunt and uncle in the Bronx, had just parked his car and was walking to the house. The police arrived, questioning what he was doing with the car, asking him to put his arms in the air, then handcuffing him, and ultimately taking him to the station house.
Inside, Officer Reynolds shoved me into a cell. Digging through my bag, Officer Castillo picked out my driver's license and said, "Look at this. He is not even from the projects."
I angrily shouted, "Because I am black that means I'm supposed to be from the projects? That's profiling and you know it!"
"Tsk, tsk," Castillo replied.
When Officer Reynolds returned, I again asked why I had been incarcerated. "This is not incarceration. Do you know what incarceration means?" he said.
I unloaded: "I have a master's degree from Columbia University. I am a reporter for the New York Post. What do you mean this is not incarceration?"
The air froze. Officer Castillo kept writing, but I watched his face go flush.
Ten minutes later, Blair was released and when he called his aunt, she said, "We're just glad you weren't killed." In the video (above), Blair recounts the experience.
Blair says, “The only reason why I declared to these officers that I was a reporter for the New York Post, that I was a graduate of Columbia University, is because I wanted it to end. I should not have to pull on cards to be respected as an individual.” NYCLU's Donna Lieberman said, "Walking while black is not a crime, and yet every year hundreds of thousands of innocent New Yorkers are stopped, searched and interrogated by the police for doing just that. For justice in our city to be truly just, the NYPD needs to start treating all New Yorkers fairly, regardless of the color of their skin."
Blair discussed his arrest on NPR with Stanley Crouch. The charges against him were ultimately dropped in February.
Tagged
Leonardo Blair
nyclu
nypd
racial profiling
stop and frisk
Jen Chung
Jen Chung is a former WNYC and Gothamist editor.
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Gothamist is funded by sponsors and member donations
Gothamist is funded by sponsors and member donations
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