Group files civil rights complaint after viral post on MBTA racial profiling
A lawyers group filed a civil rights complaint with the state Department of Transportation on Tuesday that accuses an MBTA inspector of racially profiling a black high schooler without justification, The Boston Globe reports.
The complaint, filed by the Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights and Economic Justice, stems from a viral Facebook post last month that told a story of a group of “rowdy” black teenagers who were kicked off the train by MBTA Transit Police officers.
A 16-year-old high schooler sitting nearby who was not part of that group was also wrongly ordered off the train, according to the Facebook post and the civil rights complaint. The teenager was then allowed back on the train after a white woman vouched for him, the complaint says.
The complaint asks for bias training for MBTA staff, compensation for the teenager and his mother, an apology and meeting on the issue, and attorneys’ fees, according to the Globe.
Last month, MBTA Transit Police Superintendent Richard Sullivan reviewed video and interviewed witnesses and concluded that the Transit officers had “conducted themselves with a calm and professional demeanor.”
MBTA spokesman Joe Pesaturo told the Globe that the T does not comment on pending legislation.
The original Facebook post, which linked the incident to other national issues of unfair treatment by police toward African-Americans, has been shared almost 100,000 times.
https://www.facebook.com/jamie.davenport/posts/10154249269130460
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