Black Female US Agent Accused Bernalillo Sheriff's Department Of Racial Profiling

A black female federal immigration agent filed a lawsuit Tuesday against a police department in New Mexico on Tuesday, accusing them of racial profiling after she was repeatedly stopped by sheriff’s deputies without any valid reason.

According to a report by Fox News, the lawsuit was filed on behalf of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) deportation agent Sherese Crawford, 38, by the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) of New Mexico against the Bernalillo County Sheriff’s Department, Albuquerque.

The lawsuit stated that Crawford was stopped over three times — two times by the same deputy — without any probable reason.

She was initially stopped in April because she was suspected of driving a stolen car, despite using a vehicle provided by her agency, according to the lawsuit.

The lawsuit further alleged that Bernalillo County Sheriff's Deputy Patrick Rael Sheriff pulled over Crawford again a month later for tailgating; Rael recognized her and told her an officer with her federal agency and a sheriff's deputy present at the first stop said she had an “attitude."

Crawford was then again stopped by Rael a few days later for driving too slowly.

She did not receive any warnings or citations for any of the stops.

ACLU attorney Kristin Greer Love said, “Our client is an accomplished federal agent who was targeted for driving while black.”

She continued, “BCSO unlawfully and repeatedly stopped her because she fit a racial profile. Targeting people because of the color of their skin is unconstitutional and bad policing."

The county sheriff’s department refused to comment as the lawsuit is pending.

The case comes at a time when the county sheriff's office is under pressure from local activist groups for multiple deputy-involved shootings this year.

According to a November report by KRQE, a CBS-affiliated television station, on Nov. 17, two people died in a deputy-involved shooting, taking the number of such shootings to nine in 2017. Three of such incidents happened within a span of 12 days, the report said.

However, this isn't the only incident where a black woman was pulled over by police without any reason. In July, a video was uploaded by Florida Orlando Police Department, in which two officers were at pains to explain why they pulled over State Attorney Aramis Ayala.

The incident happened June 19, and the police officers asked for Ayala's ID after pulling her over. One of the officers said, “Thank you, your tag didn't come back, never seen that before, but we're good now. We ran the tag, I've never seen it before with a Florida tag, it didn't come back to anything, so that's the reason for the stop.”

When being asked by Ayala the reason for the tag run, the officer replied, “Oh we run tags through all the time, whether it's a traffic light and that sort of stuff, that's how we figure out if cars are stolen and that sort of thing. Also, the windows are really dark, I don't have a tint measure but that's another reason for the stop.”