Junta for Progressive Action
A local anti-profiling activist is pulled over for running a red light in a tough part of town. The situation quickly deteriorates.
by Doron Monk Flake - October 28, 2004
"I hold a professional position in a non-profit organization," says New Haven resident John Lugo. "I pay my taxes. I am a citizen of the United States."
But he doesn't feel he was treated that way on Oct. 2.
That was the day New Haven police officers Steven McMorris and Kristine Cudy stopped a blue Subaru Impreza on Huntington Street in Newhallville. Inside were Mr. and Mrs. John Lugo, who say they were on their way home from an area Stop & Shop and were but a few doors from their home on Huntington. The officers asked for Lugo's license, which he says he was unable to find at the time, though, he says, it was in his pocket.
McMorris, Lugo says, then suggested Lugo's license must have been suspended, or he would have had it on him. McMorris asked for his registration. "He said it was very suspicious that I was out late at night," says Lugo, who recently attended an anti-profiling conference at which Police Chief Francisco Ortiz Jr. was also present.
"He didn't see a grocery bag in my car," Lugo says of McMorris, "so he said we must be lying about going to the grocery store."
He says the officers asked him and his wife where they worked. Lugo works for Community Mediations, Inc.; his wife works at a bookstore. Why were they carrying so much money? They used the ATM at the Stop & Shop. Why was Mrs. Lugo's neck so tense? The police had never pulled her over before. At this point, Lugo refused to answer any more questions. He instructed his wife to do the same.
Lugo claims that McMorris was angered by his refusal to speak and threatened to take him down to Union Avenue. Fed up, Lugo says he told the officers, "You know, the funny thing is that I work for an organization that has a great deal of contact with the police, but you treat me like shit." McMorris, Lugo says, then told him to get out of the car and put his hands behind his back to be handcuffed. No arrest was ever made.
At this point, Lugo says, he still didn't know why he was stopped. Eventually, the officers said they observed him running a red light at Bassett Street and Shelton Avenue. After being questioned for nearly half an hour, Lugo was released, along with his wife, who was never cuffed, with a complaint ticket for $300. The ticket was for running the light, driving without a driver's license, and failure to carry a registration. Lugo was also ticketed for refusing to sign the ticket. In the "Race" section of the ticket, McMorris wrote "White." Lugo is Hispanic. He speaks with an accent. Even his office voicemail is bilingual. Bonnie Winchester, spokesperson for the New Haven Police Department, did not speak to the issue of whether the Lugos were harassed by the two officers. She did say, "Mr. Lugo can either plead guilty and pay the ticket or plead not guilty and be assigned a court date." Lugo is adamant that incidents like this are symptomatic of a larger problem. There is, he says, a culture of distrust between many civilians and those who are charged with the duty to serve and protect them.
It's hard to argue with that. Despite anti-bias training and the institution of former Police Chief Nick Pastore's community-policing programs, police still have prejudices, because human beings have prejudices.
But that's no excuse for needless harassment and humiliation, which is what Lugo says he experienced at the hands of the officers.
Lugo is a vocal critic of racial profiling, and so is perhaps more on the lookout for it than most. He attended a conference on profiling last spring at Santa Rosa Church along with Police Chief Ortiz, Kica Matos, director of JUNTA Inc., and Latinos United in Action. (The chief was traveling and was unavailable for comment.)
"It's my duty to do something about this", says Lugo, who plans to fight the ticket in court. "People are mistreated by the police all the time. They have their houses searched illegally. They're sexually harassed. People don't trust the police and situations like this aren't helping."