Correspondence: complaints against LAPD, 1978-1991, p. 246 |
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icfT ^nifoj^-i*^
Joe Morgan's Suit
Protests Drug 'Profile'
■ Civil rights: Theformer baseball star says he was
unfairly targeted by police and arrested at LAX
because he is black. A second trial on his claim is set.
By VICTOR M ERIN A
TIMES STAFF WRITER
As they scanned the flow of
passengers at Los Angeles International Airport, police detecUve
Clayton Searie and his fellow
narcotics officer searched for the
likely companion of the suspected
drug courier who stood handcuffed nearby.
When Searie noticed a short,
muscular black man walk toward
tbem and then turn abruptly toward a bank of telephones, the
plainclothes Los Angeles police
detectjfe moved in quickly to
question him.
Within minutes, however, their
words had turned into violence,
and the two men toppled to the
terminal floor where Searie
.handcuffed his suspect and pulled
him lo his feet Placing his hand
'across the man's mouth, ihe officer then marched him away before a gathering crowd of gaping
1 passersby.
1 Only later did Searie and his
.partner from the Drug Enforcement Administration realize that
the suspected drug courier they
had arrested on that March day in
,1988 was Joe Morgan, the former
Cincinnati Rede second baseman
""who "Was inducted Monday into
Major League baseball's Hall of
Fame.
The 46-year-old Morgan, who
is now an Oakland businessman
and baseball broadcaster, is suing
Searie and the city of Los Angeles
in federal court, claiming that he
was unfairly targeted because he
is black and fit a certain "profile"
s
■ RELATED STORY: CM
that narcotics officers think a
drug courier should look like.
"There's no doubt in our mind
that the only reason they stopped
Joe Morgan was because he is
black and he was the first black
who happened to come by," said
William Barnes, one of the attorneys representing the former
ballplayer.
The Morgan case also reflects a
growing criticism of police use of
the drug courier profile to stem
the flow of drugs through airports.
"It's purely based on race or
dress, nol on whether you are
involved in any drug activity,"
said Cary Tnchter, a Houston
defense lawyer and former police
officer who specializes in such
cases.
First developed in the 1970s,
the drug courier profile was based
on patterns of behavior believed
to be used by those who use
commercial airline flights lo
transport narcotics. Such suspicious behavior include erratic
movements, paying' for tickets
with cash, using an alias, boarding
a long flight without luggage and
staying briefly in distant cities
known to be sources of narcotics.
I-uat year, the U.S. Supreme
Court ruled lhat government
agents may stop and question airline passengers who look and act
like drug couriers. Out the court
said brief detentions musl be based
on a person's behavior, not jusl on
rucc or appearance.
"Profiles arc important and wc
use Ihem. but exactly how we use
them or what the profile Is I cunnot
tell you." said Iam Angeles Police
Department Cmdr. William Ilooth.
"It is certainly not something
bused on any prejudice or racism.
It'rt based on trying to protect (he
public." He said thut lust yeur. 254
narcotics arrests were made ut Ia>h
Angeles International Airport.
Through Aug. 3 of this yeqr, there
have been 121 such arrests.
Frank Schulls, chief of public
uffuirs for the DKA in Washington.
denied that his agency uses drug
courier profiles.
"We have any number of investigative techniques and ways to
Identify people Involved In moving
drugs, but a profile Is nol one of
them," ho said.
Neither Ilooth nor Schulls
would comment on the Morgan luwsult. which Is scheduled lo
go to trial for a second tlrnc next
month in I»s Angeles. Morgan Is
seeking unspecified dumages.
claiming that his civil rights were
violated.
Last April, a six-person federal
jury rejected Morgan's case. Hut
two months luter, U.S. District
Judge Mariana It. Pfaclzcr set aside
the verdict afler ruling that she
hud failed to Instruct jurors thai
Morgan had been illegally detained
by police.
"There Isn't any possible other
conclusion but thnl the stop wns
Illegal," the judge concluded.
Hoth Bearle. a 20-year Police
Department veteran, und William
Woessncr. a DKA agent who was
subsequently dropped from the
lawsuit, have den^od thai they did
anything wrong.
"I wish that this hadn't happened," Searie suid. "I wish |Morgan) luck now that 1 know who he
Is. 1 just hope I never sec him
again." "**
Morgan could not be reached for
comment. Uut in court documents,
he said thai on March 15. 1988. tie
wuafwuiting ut Los Angeles International Airport for u connecting
flight to Tucson to attend a golf
lournument und wus Innocently
making u phone cull when Searie
suddenly grabbed his shoulder und
spun him around.
Asked to Identify himself, Morgan suid he told the officer I hut his
wallet wus In un attache ruse about
40 feet uway but (hut Searie refused to let him retrieve It. When u
byslunder—who would luter testify for Morgun—recognized the former player and tried to Intervene,
both men claimed lhat Scurle
warned the man to stay away.
Minutes later, Morgan suid,
Scurle grubbed him by the neck
and they tell to the floor. Morgun
said the officer then put u knee In
his back, wrenched his arms behind him and handcuffed him.
He wus taken to a small children's nursery in tho termlnul und
Interrogated, but within minutes
the officers hud confirmed his
Identity, Morgan suid. Scurle then
offered to free him If he would
forget tho matter, according to
Morgan's lawsuit. Instead, Morgun
filed his complaint, In pari, to
discourage similar Incidents from
occurring, his attorneys said.
"This happened to Joe Morgun,
but II really Is applicable to any
bluck person who uses lx>s Angeles
airport," said Oakland attorney
Edwin Wilson Jr., who also is
black. "If II wasn't Joe, this could
have happened lo mn or my father
or to any other black person."
Searlo, 4Z, denied the ullvgMkm*.
. but told The Times he could nol
discuss specifics of the case.
"All I can say is that the guy Is a
great baseball player and appears
to be a good announcer," Searie.
said. "I wish il didn't happen. He
just sort of went out of control."
Assistant City Ally. Honey A.
Lewis, who represents the officer
and the Police Department, said
Searie had acted properly and was
merely asking Morgan lo identify
himself 'when Morgan suddenly
became belligerent, spewing profanities and slapping the officer.
^Kyiy argument is lhat Mr.
1V1 Morgun overreacted,"
Lewis said. "If he hud cooperated,
none of this would have happened.
J think he hud a bruised ego, and he
wus offended becuusc the officer
hadn't recognized him."
According to Scarlc's sworn
court deposition, the incident begun after he and Woessncr. working together as members of an
airport anti-drug task force, had
arrested a passenger as a suspected
drug courier. They said he was
using an alias.
Although the officers found no
drugs in his possession, Searie said
they discovered that the passenger
wus holding a second plane ticket,
and they begun looking for his
companion. Since the passenger
was black and Indicated that his
companion "looked like me," the
officer began looking for a black
mun who was nervous-looking or
huving "other characteristics of •
narcotics courier."
When thoy spotted Morgan,
Searie said, ho tried to speak lo him
but Morgan started screaming profanities and "making animal noises" and hit him In the chest with •
wild swing.
In his suit, Morgan denies that
and contends that he suffered
"acute physical and emotional distress and embarrassment" after the
Incident and expressed concern
Object Description
| Title | Correspondence: complaints against LAPD, 1978-1991 |
| Description | Newspaper clippings (Los Angeles Times, L.A. Weekly, Los Angeles Daily News, New York Times, Sentinel) and magazine articles (U.S. News & World Report, Newsweek) documenting Los Angeles Police Department misconduct under Chief Daryl F. Gates, 1978-1991, compiled by Irving Kessler and Lynn F. Kessler. Includes: Introduction, Contents, Excessive force, Rodney King, Mexican nationality, Civil rights, Property, Silence, Discrimination, Accountability, Gates intolerance, Recommendations. PART OF A SERIES: Materials in the series fall into one of several categories related to the Independent Commission's work product: (1) Commission meeting materials, which include meeting agendas, work plans, memoranda, and articles about police misconduct that were circulated and reviewed during the Commission's internal meetings; (2) public correspondence, which includes citizen complaints against the LAPD in the form of written testimony, articles, and an audio cassette tape, as well as letters drafted by citizens in support of the LAPD; (3) summaries of interviews held with LAPD officers regarding Departmental procedures and relations; (4) public meeting materials, which include transcripts, supplementary documents, and witness statements that were reviewed at the Commission's public meetings; (5) press releases related to the formation and work product of the Commission; and (6) miscellaneous materials reviewed by the Commission during its study, including LAPD personnel and training manuals, a memorandum of understanding, and messages from the LAPD's Mobile Digital Terminal (MDT) system. |
| Coverage date | 1978/1991 |
| Creator |
Kessler, Irving, compiler Kessler, Lynn F., compiler |
| Publisher (of the original version) | Los Angeles Times; L.A. Weekly; U.S. News & World Report; Los Angeles Daily News; New York Times; Newsweek; Sentinel |
| Place of publication (of the original version) | Los Angeles, California, USA; Washington, DC, USA; New York, New York, USA |
| Publisher (of the digital version) | University of Southern California |
| Date created | 1991 |
| Date issued | 1978/1991 |
| Type |
texts images |
| Format | 368 p. |
| Format (aat) |
clippings (information artifacts) articles summaries |
| Format (imt) | application/pdf |
| Language | English |
| Contributing entity | University of Southern California |
| Part of collection | Independent Commission on the Los Angeles Police Department, 1991 |
| Series | Independent Commission File List |
| File | Complaints, suggestions, and support |
| Box and folder | box 23, folders 7-9 |
| Provenance | The collection was given to the University of Southern California on July 31, 1991. |
| Rights | This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License. https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ All requests for permission to publish or quote from manuscripts must be submitted in writing to the Manuscripts Librarian. Permission for publication is given on behalf of Special Collections as the owner of the physical items and is not intended to include or imply permission of the copyright holder, which must also be obtained. |
| Physical access | Contact: Special Collections, Doheny Memorial Library, Libraries, University of Southern California, Los Angeles, CA 90089-0189; specol@dots.usc.edu |
| Repository name | USC Libraries Special Collections |
| Repository address | Doheny Memorial Library, Los Angeles, CA 90089-0189 |
| Repository email | specol@dots.usc.edu |
| Filename | indep-box23-07_09 |
Description
| Title | Correspondence: complaints against LAPD, 1978-1991, p. 246 |
| Format (imt) | image/tiff |
| Physical access | Contact: Special Collections, Doheny Memorial Library, Libraries, University of Southern California, Los Angeles, CA 90089-0189; specol@dots.usc.edu |
| Full text | icfT ^nifoj^-i*^ Joe Morgan's Suit Protests Drug 'Profile' ■ Civil rights: Theformer baseball star says he was unfairly targeted by police and arrested at LAX because he is black. A second trial on his claim is set. By VICTOR M ERIN A TIMES STAFF WRITER As they scanned the flow of passengers at Los Angeles International Airport, police detecUve Clayton Searie and his fellow narcotics officer searched for the likely companion of the suspected drug courier who stood handcuffed nearby. When Searie noticed a short, muscular black man walk toward tbem and then turn abruptly toward a bank of telephones, the plainclothes Los Angeles police detectjfe moved in quickly to question him. Within minutes, however, their words had turned into violence, and the two men toppled to the terminal floor where Searie .handcuffed his suspect and pulled him lo his feet Placing his hand 'across the man's mouth, ihe officer then marched him away before a gathering crowd of gaping 1 passersby. 1 Only later did Searie and his .partner from the Drug Enforcement Administration realize that the suspected drug courier they had arrested on that March day in ,1988 was Joe Morgan, the former Cincinnati Rede second baseman ""who "Was inducted Monday into Major League baseball's Hall of Fame. The 46-year-old Morgan, who is now an Oakland businessman and baseball broadcaster, is suing Searie and the city of Los Angeles in federal court, claiming that he was unfairly targeted because he is black and fit a certain "profile" s ■ RELATED STORY: CM that narcotics officers think a drug courier should look like. "There's no doubt in our mind that the only reason they stopped Joe Morgan was because he is black and he was the first black who happened to come by," said William Barnes, one of the attorneys representing the former ballplayer. The Morgan case also reflects a growing criticism of police use of the drug courier profile to stem the flow of drugs through airports. "It's purely based on race or dress, nol on whether you are involved in any drug activity," said Cary Tnchter, a Houston defense lawyer and former police officer who specializes in such cases. First developed in the 1970s, the drug courier profile was based on patterns of behavior believed to be used by those who use commercial airline flights lo transport narcotics. Such suspicious behavior include erratic movements, paying' for tickets with cash, using an alias, boarding a long flight without luggage and staying briefly in distant cities known to be sources of narcotics. I-uat year, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled lhat government agents may stop and question airline passengers who look and act like drug couriers. Out the court said brief detentions musl be based on a person's behavior, not jusl on rucc or appearance. "Profiles arc important and wc use Ihem. but exactly how we use them or what the profile Is I cunnot tell you." said Iam Angeles Police Department Cmdr. William Ilooth. "It is certainly not something bused on any prejudice or racism. It'rt based on trying to protect (he public." He said thut lust yeur. 254 narcotics arrests were made ut Ia>h Angeles International Airport. Through Aug. 3 of this yeqr, there have been 121 such arrests. Frank Schulls, chief of public uffuirs for the DKA in Washington. denied that his agency uses drug courier profiles. "We have any number of investigative techniques and ways to Identify people Involved In moving drugs, but a profile Is nol one of them," ho said. Neither Ilooth nor Schulls would comment on the Morgan luwsult. which Is scheduled lo go to trial for a second tlrnc next month in I»s Angeles. Morgan Is seeking unspecified dumages. claiming that his civil rights were violated. Last April, a six-person federal jury rejected Morgan's case. Hut two months luter, U.S. District Judge Mariana It. Pfaclzcr set aside the verdict afler ruling that she hud failed to Instruct jurors thai Morgan had been illegally detained by police. "There Isn't any possible other conclusion but thnl the stop wns Illegal," the judge concluded. Hoth Bearle. a 20-year Police Department veteran, und William Woessncr. a DKA agent who was subsequently dropped from the lawsuit, have den^od thai they did anything wrong. "I wish that this hadn't happened," Searie suid. "I wish |Morgan) luck now that 1 know who he Is. 1 just hope I never sec him again." "** Morgan could not be reached for comment. Uut in court documents, he said thai on March 15. 1988. tie wuafwuiting ut Los Angeles International Airport for u connecting flight to Tucson to attend a golf lournument und wus Innocently making u phone cull when Searie suddenly grabbed his shoulder und spun him around. Asked to Identify himself, Morgan suid he told the officer I hut his wallet wus In un attache ruse about 40 feet uway but (hut Searie refused to let him retrieve It. When u byslunder—who would luter testify for Morgun—recognized the former player and tried to Intervene, both men claimed lhat Scurle warned the man to stay away. Minutes later, Morgan suid, Scurle grubbed him by the neck and they tell to the floor. Morgun said the officer then put u knee In his back, wrenched his arms behind him and handcuffed him. He wus taken to a small children's nursery in tho termlnul und Interrogated, but within minutes the officers hud confirmed his Identity, Morgan suid. Scurle then offered to free him If he would forget tho matter, according to Morgan's lawsuit. Instead, Morgun filed his complaint, In pari, to discourage similar Incidents from occurring, his attorneys said. "This happened to Joe Morgun, but II really Is applicable to any bluck person who uses lx>s Angeles airport," said Oakland attorney Edwin Wilson Jr., who also is black. "If II wasn't Joe, this could have happened lo mn or my father or to any other black person." Searlo, 4Z, denied the ullvgMkm*. . but told The Times he could nol discuss specifics of the case. "All I can say is that the guy Is a great baseball player and appears to be a good announcer," Searie. said. "I wish il didn't happen. He just sort of went out of control." Assistant City Ally. Honey A. Lewis, who represents the officer and the Police Department, said Searie had acted properly and was merely asking Morgan lo identify himself 'when Morgan suddenly became belligerent, spewing profanities and slapping the officer. ^Kyiy argument is lhat Mr. 1V1 Morgun overreacted," Lewis said. "If he hud cooperated, none of this would have happened. J think he hud a bruised ego, and he wus offended becuusc the officer hadn't recognized him." According to Scarlc's sworn court deposition, the incident begun after he and Woessncr. working together as members of an airport anti-drug task force, had arrested a passenger as a suspected drug courier. They said he was using an alias. Although the officers found no drugs in his possession, Searie said they discovered that the passenger wus holding a second plane ticket, and they begun looking for his companion. Since the passenger was black and Indicated that his companion "looked like me," the officer began looking for a black mun who was nervous-looking or huving "other characteristics of • narcotics courier." When thoy spotted Morgan, Searie said, ho tried to speak lo him but Morgan started screaming profanities and "making animal noises" and hit him In the chest with • wild swing. In his suit, Morgan denies that and contends that he suffered "acute physical and emotional distress and embarrassment" after the Incident and expressed concern |
| Filename | indep-box23-08-03~26.tif |
| Archival file | Volume77/indep-box23-08-03~26.tif |
