Posted: December 1, 2003 at 6:15 p.m. OAKLAND (BCN) -- An Oakland police spokeswoman said it was just a routine stop of a potential burglary suspect, but the attorney for high profile sports agent Aaron Goodwin said it was every black man's nightmare.
Goodwin filed a $1.5 million civil rights lawsuit in U.S. District Court in Oakland Monday against the Oakland Police Department, accusing four officers of unlawfully stopping, detaining, and holding him at gunpoint about 9 a.m. on Nov. 25.
Speaking at a news conference at the office of civil rights lawyer John Burris, Goodwin, an Oakland resident who represents rookie phenom LeBron James, Gary Payton and many other pro basketball stars, said the most humiliating part of the encounter on Trestle Glen Road was that an officer ordered him to crawl on the ground even though he was cooperative and had his hands up.
"I'm a hard-working, proud African-American man and I'm not crawling to anyone," Goodwin said he told the woman officer.
He said he finally just laid face down on the ground with his hands up, but the officer, whom his lawsuit identifies as Paula Petit, still put her knee into his back and handcuffed him.
Oakland police spokeswoman Danielle Ashford said officers stopped Goodwin because his vehicle matched a witness's description of a vehicle that was used in a burglary earlier that day.
Ashford said officers drew their guns when they stopped Goodwin because it was "a high risk stop" since he was a potential felony suspect.
Ashford said the procedures used by the officers were "routine" and "everything was done according to the book."
She said Goodwin was released after the burglary victim came to the scene and said Goodwin wasn't the perpetrator.
But Burris said, "Having him (Goodwin) crawl was extremely degrading and an attempt to humiliate and embarrass him."
Burris said, "It was way beyond acceptable police practice because the person was not presenting any danger to the officers."
The attorney said Goodwin was the victim of "shoddy and unconstitutional police work" because the only description given to police by the burglary victim was that there were two black men and they drove away in a dark sport utility vehicle.
"This shows the inherent danger African American men face in an urban environment," Burris said.
"That description could have fit any number of people in Oakland, including me," he said.
No information was reported regarding the assailants' age, complexion, or size, according to Burris.
The attorney said Goodwin's SUV is "very distinct" because it's a "very expensive" black 2004 Escalade and has dealer plates displaying the number "310" in bold numerals. Goodwin said 310 plates are customized and are used by athletes and entertainers in the Los Angeles area.
Burris said police tailed Goodwin for about 3 miles, so they should have had time to check out his license plate.
Goodwin said that when he was stopped, he was driving from his house in the Oakland hills to pick up his two daughters at their grandmother's house on Trestle Glen, as they had spent the previous night there. He was going to take them to school, and their lunches were in the front seat of his car and their backpacks were in the back seat.
"If my daughters had been with me, this incident would have been a trauma they never would have lived down," he said.
Goodwin said the officer who ordered him to crawl was shaking.
"That's important to me because I don't want to lose my life because someone else is nervous," he said.
Burris said Goodwin is "a law-abiding person who has done a lot of good for Oakland," but what happened to him could happen to any black male in Oakland.
"If it can happen to me, it can happen to any good man in Oakland, or in America," Goodwin said.
The lawsuit alleges that Goodwin "suffered severe and extreme emotional distress, fear, terror, anxiety, humiliation and loss of his sense of security, dignity and pride as a U.S. citizen."
It says the conduct of the police officers was "malicious, wanton and oppressive."
The suit further claims that the officers' actions acts are "indicative and representative of a repeated course of conduct by members of the Oakland Police Department tantamount to a custom, policy or repeated practice of condoning and tacitly encouraging the abuse of police authority and disregard for the constitutional rights of citizens."
Police Chief Richard Word has been deliberately indifferent to repeated acts of police misconduct, the suit alleges.
(Copyright 2003, Bay City News. All rights reserved.)