A legal aid attorney, Rashad James, filed a complaint against the Harford County Sheriff’s Office in Maryland. James says that on March 6, he was at the Harford County District Court in Bel Air—working, as lawyers do. While James’s client was not in the court with him that day, James was successful in arguing an expungement for his client. According to WBAL TV and Rashad James, that is when things became “surreal.”
"After the hearing, that's when I encountered the officer who incorrectly called me by the name of the client. I stated that I was not the client, that I was, in fact, the client's attorney," James said.
Asked for identification, James showed the officer his driver’s license. But according to James’s attorney, proving that he was indeed Rashad James, a legal aid attorney, was not enough for Columbo over here. The officer brought James to “an interview room,” where he reportedly questioned him for more identification and phone calls for ten minutes. According to the complaint, it was after James insisted on seeing the officer’s supervisor that he was released.
As one of James’s attorneys, Andrew D. Freeman, said in a statement released to the press, “If Mr. James were white, the officer would not have doubted that Mr. James was an attorney, would not have questioned his identity, and certainly would not have detained Mr. James after seeing his driver’s license.”
Let’s review:
- Rashad James comes into court.
- A court officer watches as Rashad is accepted for being who he says he is by a judge in the Harford County District Court in Bel Air.
- Not only does the judge accept James’s identity, he hears his legal arguments and grants James’s client an expungement.
- The officer asks for identification. James complies. The officer doesn’t accept the legal identification (the same kind of identification that conservatives frequently want to use to deter people of color from voting, mind you).
- The officer asks for more, not legally required, proof of James’s identity.
- The officer detains James for questioning before releasing him with no further identification needed.
James says that at no time did he feel “in danger,” because he knew he was “wasn’t wrong.” This is one of the great things about being the person you say you are. The Harford County Sheriff's Office says it is reviewing and investigating the complaint.