Trial is scheduled to start Monday in a federal
lawsuit against the city of St. Joseph and five city police officers
claiming the officers used racial profiling in arresting three black
teen-agers in 2000. The suit was filed in 2002 on behalf of the three
teens - Devin Mitchell, Cody Mitchell and Preston Culpepper. The trial
is scheduled to begin at 8:30 a.m. before U.S. District Judge Richard
Enslen in Kalamazoo. The suit alleges that the city has developed and
maintained policies encouraging racial profiling and has not taken
proper steps to stop the practice, or adequate steps to investigate
complaints of police misconduct. The complaint claims the three
teen-agers were targeted as "the group" because they were among the few
black teens living in the city. [more]
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