Study Shows Nashville Cops Pull Over Black People Because they Are Black
/From [HERE] One group claims that driving while black is a high risk activity. Taneisha Gillyard of Gideon's Army says, "In black and brown communities there's a growing distrust of the people who are supposed to serve and protect, by events such as the murder of Sandra bland, Michael brown."
Those deaths have sparked protests over unfair policing.
Activists claims the Metro Police Department is using similar tactics.
"Metro Police Officers regularly intimidate harass and unfairly exert their authority over black drivers," says, Evan Bunch of Gideon's Army.
Members of the civil rights group analyzed traffic stops between 2011 and 2015 .
Despite comprising only about 28% of Nashville drivers, black drivers make up almost 40% of all stops.
That's close to 12% more than the black driving population.
We asked drivers what they think.
"I got pulled over and they stopped and asked me for license and registration and he tells me my front light is out but I parked my car soon as they let me go. I looked, it wasn't out or anything so he was stopping me just to try and see what I was doing," says, Sylvester Gordon.
Lyft Driver, Alexis Saski says, "one of the only times I've ever been pulled over driving for Lyft is when I picked up a young black man. They pulled us over and he didn't come to my window. The officer went to the back and asked the man to put his hands up and searched his stuff."
Metro admits that 80 percent of traffic stops in 2015 resulted in warnings.
The department say officers concentrate their efforts on where crime victims are.
Police point to crime mapping which shows the prevalence of crime and requests for service.
Some Activists see it differently, and so do drivers, depending on who you ask.
Marilyn Reed says, "I haven’t experience it but from what I see on TV yeah I believe it's going on."
Gideon's Army has filed a complaint with the U.S. Justice Department and calling for an investigation of the report they're calling "Driving While Black."
