GRAND RAPIDS, MI -- A black man who says he was stopped, photographed and fingerprinted by police despite committing no crime has filed a lawsuit against Grand Rapids and a police captain.
Keyon Harrison contends that he and other young black males have been targeted for photos and thumbprints, or what's known as a "p&p." He was a teen, walking home from school, when he was stopped in 2012, the lawsuit said.
"Keyon was playing with a bird in the park," attorney Bernard Schaefer said Tuesday, Feb. 24. "(Police) searched him, thumb-printed him and photographed him."
The city denies that minorities have been targeted and defended the practice, which is used to identify juveniles or older teens who do not have photo identification.
"How does a police officer know who they're dealing with (if the subject has no identification),"City Attorney Catherine Mish said. "Police officers are given false names all the time. (Police want to) make sure who it was they dealt with two weeks ago. Document it with a photo and fingerprint."
The lawsuit, filed in Kent County Circuit Court, names the City of Grand Rapids and police Capt. Curt VanderKooi, a long-time commander, as defendants.
The lawsuit said that Harrison was near Lake Drive SE and East Fulton Street on May 31, 2012, with a Hispanic friend when VanderKooi saw them part ways.
VanderKooi circled the block and stopped Harrison. He directed officers to photograph and thumbprint Harrison.
The lawsuit said Harrison was stopped because he is black. Of a dozen reports Schaefer has reviewed, 10 of them involved blacks, the other two, Hispanics. All were males. The actions by police were "unreasonable and excessive," Schaefer said.
He said police violated his client's constitutional rights to fair and equal treatment, privacy and to be free of unlawful search and seizure, he said.
The city says Harrison voluntarily consented to a search of himself and his backpack.
Assistant City Attorneys Margaret Bloemers and Kristen Rewa said that photographs and thumbprints were taken solely for identification purposes.
The city disputed the allegation that minorities have been targeted.
"The allegation ... is emphatically denied as a reckless, malicious and untruthful allegation ... ," Bloemers and Rewa wrote.
"Defendants further expressly deny the allegations, express or denied, that defendant VanderKooi personally and individually has a custom and/or practice of targeting individuals for scrutiny on the basis of their race as a reckless, malicious, and untruthful allegation for which plaintiff Keyon Harrison has no good faith basis in fact."
Mish, the city attorney, said there are no constitutional issues with taking photos of people in public. Fingerprints are left on surfaces all day long.
"The police officers involved did nothing wrong," Mish said.
John Agar covers crime for MLive/Grand Rapids Press E-mail John Agar: jagar@mlive.com and follow him on Twitter at http://ift.tt/1k4dzdf
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http://ift.tt/eA8V8J City attorney says Grand Rapids police broke no laws when stopping to fingerprint and photograph innocent blacks and Hispanics without IDs because there are "no constitutional issues with taking photos of people in public" and that "fingerprints are left on surfaces all day long" via top scoring links : news http://ift.tt/1LDOsrg
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