The ACLU Is Suing the Michigan State Police for Racial Profiling
The American Civil Liberties Union of Michigan Wednesday filed a lawsuit on behalf of a couple who said they were stopped by Michigan State Police troopers in Oak Park and detained for nearly two hours as their vehicle was searched for drugs by two K-9 units.
Camara Sankofa, 50, and Shanelle Thomas, 35, were falsely accused of running a red light and profiled because of their race, according to the complaint filed in U.S. District Court in Detroit.
Sankofa, a Detroit resident, said Wednesday during a virtual news conference hosted by the ACLU that he and Thomas were stopped simply for being Black. The two were pulled over on East Eight Mile near Coolidge in Oak Park by troopers about 3:20 p.m. on Aug. 15, 2019. The lawsuit alleges the troopers used an alleged MSP’s computer system malfunction as a ruse to bring two different K-9 units to search the vehicle Sankofa was driving, according to the lawsuit.
