HomeMy WebLinkAbout05-23-2000 ArticlesIowa City Gazette, Wednesday, May 17, 2000
I.C. police
traffic stop
questioned
Lawyer subpoenas
records in defense
of black motorist'
By Lynn M. Teti
Gazette staff writer
IOWA CITY — An Iowa City
defense attorney who has sub-
poenaed the race and gender
traffic -stop data collected by the
Police Department for possible
use in defending a black client
accused of driving while barred
said he is not accusing Iowa
City officers of being racist.
"My reading of the informa-
tion in the (formal charges) and
first set of police reports didn't
show a valid reason far the
stop," said attorney Peter Per -
mud, who is the first to request
the traffic stop data for a court
case. "Because I didn't see a
valid reason, I had to start
looking other ways and started
subpoenaing the records."
Persaud's client, Derrick Phil-
lip of Waterloo, was stopped
Dec. 9 in the '500 block of
Maiden Lane and charged with
driving while barred. Because
he doesn't believe there was a
valid reason for the stop, Per-
saud also has made a motion to
suppress all evidence collected
at the stop. A hearing on that
motion is set for June 27 and
trial is set for June 28.
Prosecutor David Tiffany said
that the subpoena for traffic.
stop data and the motion to
suppress, taken together, seem
to imply that Persaud believes
the officers lied about why they
stopped Phillip.
Persaud disagreed. "I just
want to see what the data
show," he said.
According to reports, an offl.
cer observed Phillip driving a
car, suspected he might be driv-
ing with a suspended license,
and ran a computerized check
of the license plate. Learning
the name of the, registered own-
er, the officer then ran a com-
puterized check of that name,
learned that the person was
suspended from driving and
stopped the car.
Problem was, Phillip wasn't
the registered owner of the car
but was borrowing it.
Furthermore, when the offi-
cer ran the computerized check
of the registered owner's name,
the computer
identified an-
t tm other person
y with the
reading of the same name —
information a person who
was suspend -
in the (formal ed from driv-
charges) and ing. But the
registered
first set of owner wasn't
police reports suspended at
didn't show a all. The mis-
taken identi-
valid reason ty wasn't dis-
for the covered until
later.
stop. > > In the pro.
Peter cess of mak-
Persaud, ing the stop,
lawyer however, the
officer did
learn that
Phillip was barred from driv-
ing.
Defending the stop, Tiffany
said the law upholds traffic
stops made based on mistaken
facts. True, he said, the identity
mistake — and the stop —
wouldn't have happened if the
officer had checked the regis-
tered owner's driving record
using his date of birth and
social security number, not just
his name. But that doesn't in
validate the stop, Tiffany said.
Tiffany said that by the time
he started working on the case,
Persaud already had requested
0 Turn to 9A: Stop.
Stop: Data collected since 7uly
■ From page iA ....
'and received trafflc-Stop data.
Had he known about the sub-
poena, he said, he would have
moved to quash it.
"The only thing this f ubmis-
tion is good for is to argue that
the police stop too many black
people," Tiffany said. "It doesn't
have anything to do with
whether this defendant was
breaking the law or not."
if Phillip believes he was
stopped because he was black,
Tiffany said, he could pursue an
investigation of whether his civ-
il rights were violated. But
there is no remedy in criminal
court, Tiffany said.
Iowa City Police Chief R.J.
Winkelhake decided to Have his
officers collect race and gender
data at traffic stops last July
after discussing the issue with
the Police Citizens Review
Board. Winkelhake has said he
will not have the data analyzed
until he has a full year's worth.
He was out of town and on.
available for comment on Tues-
day.
Tiffany added that Iowa law
doesn't allow for a pretext de-
fense — that is, a defendant
can't argue that officers came
up with a valid reason for
stopping him to justify what
was really a race -based stop. As
long as there was a valid reason
«(This information)
doesn't have anything to do
with whether this defendant
was breaking the haw or
not.���_
David Tiffany, prosecutor
for the stop, that's all that
matters in court. ..
Persaud didn't dispute that
his client was driving while
barred. "The question is wheth-
er the stop was valid," he said.
Tiffany criticized the motion
to suppress evidence as vague,
stating that it doesn't actually
explain why the stop was un-
reasonable. He also criticized
Persaud for not talking with the
officers before drawing conclu-
sions about the validity of the
stop.
Permud said officers are rare-
ly deposed as part of a driving -
while -barred case.
Regardless of how this case
turns out, the traffic stop data
need to be analyzed. Persaud
said. "It's important that every-
one look at what these numbers
show:' he said.
• •
Opinion
Iowa City Press -Citizen
Police board OK
but not perfect
Generally, joint meet-
ing between the Iowa City
Council and the Police
Citizens Review Board
have resembled lovefests.
And, generally, we
agree the city is better off
with the board than with-
out it.
The board was formed
in the wake of the mistak-
en shooting of local artist
Eric Shaw by an Iowa
City police officer.
The goal was to have
some sort of civilian over-
sight of police.
As it works, the board"
takes complaints and
investigates them.
If it finds a complaint
valid, and that police
haven't done enough to
resolve the issue, it can
send a report to the coun-
cil for additional review.
But while we agree the
city is better off with the
board, let's not go too far.
There still are many
questions, and the
process is hardly perfect
as it was envisioned:
■ Debates will contin-
ue over what information
is public and what isn't.
■ Councilman Steve
Kanner is right that the
board should work hard-
er to get minority repre-
sentation.
■ Councilwoman
Connie Champion is right
that the board is "distant"
from both the police
department and the coun-
cil. As one example of
that, the board invites
officers to a name -clear-
ing hearing, but the police
union recommends offi-
cers not participate.
■ And, the board has
no authority to discipline
officers. We aren't recom-
mending that it should
have that authority. But
lack of it clearly hampers
the board's effectiveness.
The council will decide
next year whether the
board should continue.
Probably, it should.
But we agree with both
board and council mem-
bers who suggest there
should be specific criteria
for evaluating the board's
value.
Right now there's only
a perception things have
changed.
And we still argue that
all board deliberations
and information should
be made public. That
would bring the board
closer to the public and
council more than any-
thing else.
Page 11A
Monday,
May 8,
2000