The Tempe Police Department is the target of a lawsuit to be filed, accusing the department of racial profiling, assault, harassment, and civil rights violations after a videotaped police encounter.
Activist Rev. Jarrett Maupin and Anderson Jean-Louis held a press conference Monday announcing the suit.
Jean-Louis is the victim and claims he was racially profiled and cited on the night of February 13, 2015 by Officers Lara Camberg and Martin Marchant. The officers say they stopped Jean-Louis because he was playing music in his vehicle too loudly on Mill Avenue.
He claims that police took his phones from him while he was videotaping the encounter. He was cited and released for playing his music too loudly, resisting the police, and failure to produce a driver's license.
According to some media reports, the Tempe Police Department has an arrest rate for African-Americans that is higher than Ferguson Missouri.
Rev. Maupin is asking the Department of Justice to investigate the Tempe Police Department over the encounter with Jean-Louis and other claims of racial profiling.