Race and ethnicity must now be considered for police seizures in Washington
The Washington State Supreme Court has ruled race and ethnicity matter when a court decides if a police seizure was legal.
Police in Washington must follow state law when seizing a person or their belongings. Courts can later determine whether that police action was legal.
Under the new state Supreme Court ruling, courts must factor race and ethnicity into their decision. The justices were unanimous on this.
The ruling came in a case in which a Pierce County deputy asked a man who was asleep in his car for his identification. The deputy did not have a warrant or reasonable suspicion to seize the man, who's identified as being Asian/Pacific Islander in court documents.
The man later gave a false name, but because he was unlawfully seized, the court is not allowing that to be evidence against him.
The justices wrote: “'In interactions with law enforcement, race and ethnicity matter."
-
Paige Browning
Newscaster
Paige hosts midday newscasts and monitors news of significance to the Puget Sound region. She hopped over Washington’s mountains to join KUOW, after hosting news and reporting at Spokane Public Radio since 2011. She began her start in radio while a journalism student at University of Montana, by sharing stories with KUFM. Paige was raised in the mountains and rivers around Spokane. In her spare time she cheers on the Mariners in the summer, and hopes for snow in the winter.
More stories from Paige Browning »
