A lawsuit alleging discriminatory traffic enforcement and ticketing practices by the Buffalo Police Department was in federal court Wednesday.
Plaintiffs Black Love Resists in the Rust – or BLRR - brought the case against the City of Buffalo back in 2018.
The lawsuit claims that the BPD “has unlawfully targeted Black and Latino motorists for aggressive, punitive traffic enforcement,” through police checkpoints, ticketing practices and traffic stops - violating the Fourth and Fourteenth Amendments of the United States and Title VI of the Civil Rights Act in the process.
In the latest development in the case, lawyers from the National Center for Law and Economic Justice and the Western New York Law Center LLC - representing plaintiffs BLRR - asked the court to consider the case as a class action lawsuit. If that happens, restitution will be sought for thousands of Black and Latino motorists ticketed or arrested at BPD checkpoints, as well as those who were issued multiple traffic tickets for tinted windows in a single traffic stop.
Bianca Basset from plaintiffs BLRR, spoke outside the courthouse in downtown Buffalo after proceedings.
“This lawsuit is about accountability for decades of violence, exploitation, harassment and intimidation of Black and brown folk in Buffalo's poorest neighborhoods by the Buffalo Police, which impacts our social, economic and mental wellbeing,” Bassett said.
Much of the suit focuses on the traffic enforcement practices of Buffalo's now disbanded police unit known as the Strike Force which conducted more than 1,600 vehicle checkpoints in the city between 2013 and 2017, according to the lawsuit.
“Beginning in 2013 [the BPD] set up suspicionless checkpoints for the express purpose to fight crime, drugs and guns, which the Supreme Court has long held as unconstitutional,” said Anjana Malhotra, Senior Attorney at the NCLEJ representing BLRR.
The lawsuit claims that at police checkpoints after June 28 2015, the BPD issued at least 11,000 tickets to at least 3,000 individuals, resulting in at least $400,000 of damages from paid traffic tickets.
The BPD’s Strike Force was disbanded in 2018.
The case further alleges that Buffalo police officers were urged to issue tickets and conduct traffic stops in majority Black and Latino neighborhoods through “an implicit quota system."
WBFO contacted a city of Buffalo official for a response but was told the city does not comment on pending litigation.
Lawyers for the plaintiffs propose the following classes for certification by the court:
• A Checkpoint Class which includes all individuals who received a ticket or were arrested at a BPD “traffic safety” vehicle checkpoint on or after June 28, 2015.
• A Tinted Windows Class defined as all Black and/or Latino individuals who received multiple tinted windows tickets from the BPD in a single traffic stop on or after June 28, 2015.
• A Traffic Enforcement Class defined as all Black and/or Latino individuals who have been or will be subjected to traffic stops, traffic tickets, and “traffic safety” vehicle checkpoints by the BPD.
Judge Christina Reiss presided over Wednesday’s hearing in which she heard arguments from lawyer Claudia Wilner on behalf of the plaintiffs, and Hugh Russ defending for the city.
The court will decide whether the case proceeds as a class action lawsuit – a ruling that could take anywhere between a few weeks or a few months.
WBFO conducted an analysis of traffic stop receipts issued by the BPD between June 2020 and June 2023 and found that Black drivers were over 3x more likely to be stopped by the BPD compared to white drivers.
