Race should be considered in determining the legality of a police stop, according to a new court ruling.
Police handle stops differently for minorities than for white people, the Washington Supreme Court ruled on Thursday in a case involving an Asian Pacific Islander man approached by police in Tacoma in 2019.
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“Today, we formally recognize what has always been true: In interactions with law enforcement, race and ethnicity matter,” Justice Mary Yu wrote in her Thursday ruling. “Therefore, courts must consider the race and ethnicity of the allegedly seized person as part of the totality of the circumstances when deciding whether there was a seizure.
The man, Palla Sum, gave the police a false name and birth date, drove off as law enforcement checked for warrants, and crashed into a nearby yard, according to court documents. He was charged with making a false or misleading statement to a public servant, attempting to elude a pursuing police vehicle, and unlawful possession of a firearm.
Sum’s false statements to police must be suppressed because he was “unlawfully seized” after the officer asked for his identification, the court found. Once police confirmed Sum’s vehicle was not stolen, police did not have reasonable suspicion to seize Sum, the state said.
“A reasonable person in Sum’s position would not have felt free to ignore the officer,” Sum’s lawyers argued.
Sum’s attorneys asked the court to adopt a new standard for illegal seizure that includes whether a “reasonable person” observing an arrest is “familiar with patterns of policing in America and the risks a person of color takes in walking away from or disregarding police interaction.” The court accepted the proposal.
Civil rights groups and public defense organizations praised the decision.
“We are pleased that the court has recognized the lived experiences of our clients and the significant harms they face due to racialized policing,” Anita Khandelwal, director of the King County Department of Public Defense, told the Kitsap Sun.
But Republican lawmakers criticized the ruling.
“The U.S. Constitution declares that every individual is subject to the same laws as everyone else. It doesn’t extend rights to groups,” state Sen. Jeff Wilson said. “Unfortunately, there are a rising number of voices on the Left who do not believe in equality for every person under the law.”
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Black drivers are 20% more likely to be pulled over and searched by police, according to 2020 findings from the Stanford Open Policing Project at Stanford University. No data have been collected specifically about Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders, however.
While Sum’s charge of making a false statement was dismissed, no ruling was rendered on the other two charges. He remains in prison.
