Paper: Houston Chronicle
Date: Wed 06/04/2008
Section: B Page: 1 MetFront Edition: 3 STAR R.O.
Racial profiling lawsuit settled / Houston pays barber $25,000 in Galleria arrest
By CINDY GEORGE
Staff
A black barber falsely accused of discarding codeine in a Galleria trash can has settled his racial profiling lawsuit against the city of Houston and Dillard's.
Kevin Wilson, 38, was arrested during a Christmas shopping trip with his wife in December 2006 after officers confronted him with a water bottle he tossed in a mall parking garage.
Believing the contents were illegal, police jailed the Fresno man for 20 hours awaiting test results on the colored liquid. The substance was water flavored with the Wal-Mart version of Crystal Light - just as Wilson said.
His settlement with the city is $25,000, the largest amount permitted without approval from the City Council. The deal also resolves claims against police officers Ariel Ferrer and Syed Bukhari, who were named in the lawsuit. The city does not admit fault or offer Wilson an apology.
Dillard's reached a confidential settlement.
In a lawsuit filed last year, Kevin and Melinda Wilson claimed that Dillard's targets non-white customers for suspicion of illegal activity. The couple also alleged that the city's inadequate training contributes to discriminatory conduct by off-duty officers.
Court papers said Wilson felt humiliated because his arrest was witnessed by shoppers, including at least one client of his Houston barbershop.
He experienced "extreme embarrassment," the lawsuit says, as he "was paraded through the store in handcuffs." He also claimed he endured "racial jokes" during his transport to the Harris County jail.
A drug possession charge against him was dropped a few months after his release.
The lawsuit also claimed false imprisonment, assault, battery, intentional infliction of emotional distress and malicious prosecution.
The suit was settled late last week and U.S. District Judge Samuel Kent administratively closed the case Monday.
Houston lawyer Troy Pradia, who represents the Wilsons, declined to comment.
Dillard's lawyer Brock Akers said the company does not condone racial profiling by employees.
"Dillard's does quadruple backflips to avoid the appearance or suggestion of being racially insensitive," he said.
In court filings, the store denied responsibility for the officers' action.
Kelly Dempsey, a senior assistant city attorney, said the resolution was prudent, particularly considering potential bills from outside lawyers hired to represent the officers.
"Based on that and the facts of the case, we thought that was a very good settlement for the taxpayers," she said.
Last December, Wilson told the Chronicle he hoped suing would reveal racial profiling as a reality for some that shouldn't be tolerated.
"I really used to think that the police really just didn't harass people for no reason," said Wilson, a native Houstonian who worked mall security in college. "I just thought that when these people said they were being harassed, they must have done something wrong."
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