RAW DOGMA written by Nkrumah Steward
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| ABC Wins "Driving While Black" Racial Profiling Case |
ABC news paid three black men to drive around in a Mercedes-Benz in a drug plagued neighborhood in the predominantly white central New Jersey town of Jamesburg.
And the point of that was….?
They were fishing for racist cops in a 12-minute segment called "Driving While Black" that focused on the racial profiling of motorists and hoped to include a traffic stop to be captured on a hidden camera.
ABC's gamble paid off.
After a few days three officers Louis Hornberger, Robert Tonkery and James Mennuti took the bait and pulled over the Mercedez-Benz with the ABC news people in it. The officers were caught on tape doing their jobs to serve and protect as the American Heroes they all are while illegally searching the car and frisking the men inside for absolutely no reason other than they were black driving around in a nice car in a drug infested predominately white neighborhood.
Wait a minute…I thought they said they didn't have a good reason to search their vehicle?
The officers sued ABC claiming that the special report called "Driving While Black" painted them as racists that profile black motorist.
Well…
The judges found that the officers failed to prove that "Prime Time Live" acted with malice when it aired the traffic stop, as well as noting that the searching of the motorist was completely illegal and frisk was totally unwarranted.
The judges also said that the segment was not defamatory because it was accurate.
The traffic stop was "a pretext to launch a criminal investigation without articulate suspicion, probable cause, or legal consent," Judge Michael P. King wrote.
The appeals court also set a new standard for police officers under the wiretapping act, ruling that the officers had no expectation of privacy because the search took place on a busy public highway with all four car doors ajar.
ABC said it was pleased with the decision.
"We stood by our report from the very beginning, and we are very gratified with the judges' decision today," said Jeffrey W. Schneider, vice president of ABC News.
I am eagerly waiting on the other installments in the series "Walking Around A Store While Black", "Trying To Legally Purchase A Gun While Black" and "Meeting Your White Girlfriends Parents While Black" |
