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Roosevelt Johnson on Wednesday stands along Martin Luther King Boulevard near Alexander Road, where he was pulled over by police as a result of what he says was racial profiling. Photo by K.M. Cannon.

Thursday, April 11, 2002
Copyright © Las Vegas Review-Journal

NLV police, four officers face racial profiling lawsuit

ACLU joining case in which black man was handcuffed and searched

North Las Vegas police were looking for a black man in a Toyota or Nissan when Roosevelt Johnson said he had the misfortune of crossing their path in his Nissan Altima.

"I saw some lights flashing behind me, so I pulled over and three or four cops came out pointing guns at me," said Johnson, a 56-year-old plumber with the Las Vegas Valley Water District. "I'll tell you, man, it was scary. If I would have made one wrong move, I would have been shot."

Johnson, whose brothers include current and retired Los Angeles police officers, was later released when officers realized they had the wrong man, he said.

On Wednesday, Johnson, who is black, filed a federal lawsuit against the city of North Las Vegas and four officers alleging he was racially profiled in the Feb. 23 traffic stop. The officers are identified in the complaint as Mario Noriega, Randy Laswell, Robert Kryszczuk and Joseph Forti.

The lawsuit is being joined by the American Civil Liberties Union of Nevada.

Johnson's attorney, Robert Langford, said the case is all about money.

"I could stand here and tell you we want to effect change, which is true," Langford said. "But it's going to be about money because that's the only thing to change a bureaucracy's behavior.

"Until that happens, we're going to continue to file these damn lawsuits," he said. "They're not going to stop until they get socked with a few big ones."

North Las Vegas spokeswoman Brenda Johnson said she could not comment on the lawsuit because the city had not yet been served with it. A spokesman for the Police Department could not be reached for comment.

In December 2000, then-North Las Vegas Police Chief Joey Tillmon told the Review-Journal that it was not out of the question some racial profiling went on at the department. But he said it was not a widespread practice.

Johnson said he had left a grocery store when he was pulled over on Martin Luther King Boulevard between Craig and Alexander roads.

With guns drawn, the officers ordered him to stick both hands out the window and then put one hand back inside to open the door, he said.

They then ordered him to walk backward and kneel on the ground before they handcuffed him, the lawsuit said. The officers searched him and his vehicle while refusing to answer questions about why he had been stopped, the lawsuit said.

During that time, the officers blocked off the southbound lane of Martin Luther King, Johnson said.

"I kept on telling them you've got the wrong guy," he said. "This was the first time anything like that had happened to me."

The officers eventually released Johnson, and a police sergeant later told him the officers were looking for a black man with a gun who left a Starbucks coffee shop in a Toyota or Nissan, the lawsuit said.

Johnson said he believes that was too vague a description for officers to take him into custody in such a manner.

"I didn't drive for two weeks, figuring they were still looking for the guy," he said.

Johnson's lawsuit alleges civil rights violations, false arrest, battery, infliction of emotional distress and negligence.

"This is yet another instance of racially biased policing and evidence of what we have been saying all along. That this is a significant problem, and law enforcement agencies in Southern Nevada need to address it aggressively," said Gary Peck, executive director of the American Civil Liberties Union of Nevada.

"The ACLU is filing these lawsuits with other attorneys because we are attempting to send a message that it needs to be fixed," Peck said.