FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
December 13, 2013
CONTACT:Bear Atwood, Legal Director, ACLU-MS, 601-354-3408, ext. 112 cell: 769-447-6675 or bearatwood@aclu-ms.org
JACKSON, MISS. – On Friday, the American Civil Liberties Union of Mississippi filed suit against the Mississippi Department of Public Safety and three state troopers alleging that the troopers engaged in racial profiling and that they violated the Plaintiffs’ First, Fourth and Fourteenth Amendment rights.
On August 8, 2012, Raymond Montgomery and Cathryn Stout were traveling southbound on Interstate 55, just north of Jackson. Stout, a doctoral student at Saint Louis University in Missouri, was traveling to Jackson to conduct interviews for a paper onMississippians’ efforts to combat negative stereotypes of their state.
Little did she know that the troopers would re-enforce such stereotypes. As they drove south on Interstate 55, a trooper pulled up beside their car, looked at them, and then pulled them over for a perfectly legal Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority, Inc. license plate holder. When they exercised their constitutional right to refuse to consent to a search, the trooper called his supervisor, Staff Sergeant Brad Vincent. The plaintiffs watched helplessly as troopers riffled through their suitcase and invaded their privacy. The troopers even dismantled the panels of their interior doors and looked under the hood of their car. In an effort to document the troopers’ actions, Stout tried to record the events on her phone camera. She was told to stop, and fearing arrest, she did. Their hour-long humiliation finally ended when the troopers could not find any contraband. They were sent on their way without any ticket, or an apology.
“Ironically, the entire purpose of my visit to Mississippi was to document the positive strides the state has taken to combat negative stereotypes,” Stout said. “Unfortunately, my experience with the Highway Patrol revealed a much different picture,” she added.
Montgomery agreed. “I was stunned and humiliated by the treatment that we received by the Mississippi Highway Patrol. We hope that our speaking up can help make sure this does not happen to anyone else.”
“This is one of many complaints that our office has received regarding the Mississippi Highway Patrol,” reported Bear Atwood, Legal Director for the ACLU of Mississippi. “We hope that this suit will cause the Department of Public Safety to take a serious look at its policies and practices, which result in frequent violations of motorists’ civil rights and civil liberties.”
The lawsuit was filed in the U.S. District Court in Jackson on behalf of Stout and Montgomery. The suit alleges that the Mississippi Department of Public Safety, which oversees the Mississippi Highway Patrol, and the three troopers involved in the incident violated Ms. Stout’s and Mr. Montgomery’s Fourth Amendment rights by engaging in an unconstitutional stop and search, their rights under the Equal Protection Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment by racially profiling them, and Ms. Stout’s First Amendment rights by prohibiting her from peacefully filming the search, from a distance, with her phone camera. The suit also alleges that Mississippi Department of Public Safety violated Title VI Civil Rights Act of 1964 by permitting its troopers to engage in racial profiling.
