‘Driving While Black’ case settled

ANNAPOLIS (AP) — A 10-year-old racial profiling lawsuit known as the “Driving While Black” case was resolved today after Maryland officials approved a $400,000 settlement for the six remaining plaintiffs.

The plaintiffs will receive $20,000 each, and $180,000 will go toward legal fees. Another $100,000 will pay for an independent consultant to advise the Maryland State Police on how well policy changes have worked.

Lt. William Berry, a plaintiff who was pulled over on Interstate 95 in 1996, said he hoped the settlement and its stipulations will send a message that racial profiling won’t be tolerated.

“It’s been a long time coming,” said Berry, a member of the North Carolina National Guard. “I think it’s wonderful. I look forward to a number of the things that they have agreed to.”

Reggie Shuford, a senior staff attorney at the American Civil Liberties Union’s Racial Justice Program, said the settlement “presents a model for how to seriously deal with an issue of this nature.”

“All eyes were on Maryland — and have been on Maryland — since this case was filed ten years ago, and Maryland has stepped up and done the right thing,” Shuford said.

Maryland’s Board of Public Works, which includes Gov. Martin O’Malley, Treasurer Nancy Kopp and Comptroller Peter Franchot, approved the settlement.

“We believe it represents a reasonable resolution of remaining claims,” David Moore, an assistant attorney general, told the board.

Martin Price, an attorney who has been working on the case since 2003, said the stipulation about the consultant “is the part of the settlement that really has teeth.” The consultant will make recommendations to the state police superintendent.

“It provides great relief, not only for our clients, but more importantly for the citizens of Maryland at large,” Price said.

The case was filed by the ACLU, the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People and several black motorists in 1998, alleging that troopers used race to determine when to stop drivers and sometimes searched their cars illegally. A ruling by a federal judge eliminated the NAACP and some of the motorists as plaintiffs.

The settlement includes a joint statement by the parties that emphasizes the importance of taking preventive steps against racial profiling. A mediated forum will be held with plaintiffs, state police officials and representatives from the state attorney general’s office. The settlement also stipulates that state police will make training materials and orders relating to a 2003 consent decree available to the plaintiffs.

The consent decree required state police to make changes aimed at preventing troopers from pulling people over because of their race, including the installation of cameras in police cars.

State police have not admitted engaging in racial profiling in either one of the agreements. But Shuford said the settlement announced today indicated that all parties are taking the matter seriously.

“I think it signifies that the Maryland State Police took very seriously their obligations to the plaintiffs,” Shuford said.

A trial had been scheduled in May, but all remaining counts will be dismissed.

“This is the end of the case,” Moore said.