Oakland: Black CHP officer sues white cops for racial profiling

A black California Highway Patrol officer says two white police officers held him and his partner at gunpoint as they served a warrant at a video store in Pleasant Hill, according to a civil-rights lawsuit filed in federal court Tuesday. The plainclothes CHP officers repeatedly pointed to their badges and identification during the incident last December, but the police ignored them, ordered them to the ground and removed their guns and other gear, the suit said. When CHP Officer Sam Morgan, who is African American, asked the police officers to show some professional courtesy, Pleasant Hill police Cpl. Steve Dexheimer replied, "This town is lily white ... you guys are two minorities ... what do you expect us to do?" according to the suit. "I think this case just shows that racial profiling so infects our society that even a police officer is at risk," Morgan's attorney, Michael Haddad of Oakland, said Tuesday. "Even though they had badges hanging from their necks, an assumption was made that they couldn't possibly be police officers." [more]