Case Explained:This article breaks down the legal background, charges, and implications of Case Explained: Siskiyou sheriff’s makes changes as partial settlement of bias lawsuit – Legal Perspective
Residents protest killing of Hmong man during Lava Fire evacuations
During a July 11, 2021, protest at the Siskiyou County Courthouse, Boua Fue Vue talks about the killing of a Hmong man by law enforcement during fire evacuations.
Shareen Strauss, Siskiyou Daily News
- The settlement addresses claims that the Sheriff’s Office disproportionately targeted Asian American drivers.
- An independent auditor will monitor the county’s compliance with the new traffic stop regulations.
- The county denies the allegations but said it agreed to the settlement to avoid further litigation costs.
The Siskiyou County Board of Supervisors and the county’s Sheriff’s Office will adopt new rules for traffic stops and agreed to comply with independent oversight of those actions as part of a partial settlement of a civil rights class action lawsuit alleging that the county discriminated against its Asian American residents.
While the settlement institutes sweeping traffic stop reforms and removes property liens to collect unpaid cannabis fines, water access claims remain in active litigation, according to a statement from the ACLU Of Northern California.
“Asian American community members of Siskiyou County came together and won their fight to live their lives without fear of being racially profiled,” said Megan Vees, litigation staff attorney at Asian Law Caucus, one of the groups involved. “This settlement reaffirms that no one should be singled out by police because of their race.”
A spokeswoman for the Siskiyou County Sheriff’s Office, Sage Milestone, said via email that the partial settlement does not result in “substantial change” to current practices.
“The County and Sheriff deny the factual and legal claims alleged by plaintiffs,” said Milestone, “but believe the partial settlement was warranted in order to avoid further costs of litigation and the resulting drain on limited County resources.”
Milestone’e email added that both the county and sheriff’s office “welcome the involvement of a monitor” in order to “demonstrate to a neutral third party their ongoing commitment to treating all people fairly and in accordance with the law.”
Under terms of the settlement announced in late December, the sheriff must adopt a new traffic stop policy prohibiting race-based stops and preventing deputies from using traffic stops to harass residents or pressure them into consenting to law enforcement searches, the announcement said.
According to the civil rights group, when deputies request consent to conduct a search, they must have reasonable suspicion or probable cause of a violation, must advise individuals of their right to refuse and provide interpreters for non-English speakers.
Body cameras must also remain on and deputies must state the reason for all stops on camera, the ACLU’s announcement said. Deputies will also be prohibited from stopping drivers solely because they are in a high-crime area or have out-of-state plates, the group said.
The county must pay an auditor to monitor compliance and conduct biannual community meetings to gather feedback and issue compliance reports with recommendations for improvement.
“Stops are limited in duration and scope unless legal cause exists to suspect criminal activity,” according to the announcement. “For example, if a driver is stopped for a broken taillight, a deputy cannot ask unrelated questions about other criminal activity unless something gives the officer reason to believe another crime has been committed.”
Traffic stop discrimination claims
According to ACLU of Northern California, traffic stop discrimination claims in Siskiyou County cited data from 2021 showing more than 28% of sheriff’s office traffic stops targeted Asian drivers, even though Asian and Pacific Islanders comprised only 2.4% percent of the county’s voting-age population. That’s a rate nearly 12 times higher than what would be expected given their proportion of the driving age population, the civil rights group said.
“This settlement is a critical step toward ending the targeted harassment that Asian American residents of Siskiyou County have endured for years,” said Emi Young, staff attorney from the ACLU of Northern California.
One plaintiff in the case, Susanna Va, said, “It is my hope that through this settlement the County will accept us and see us as their residents. To include us as one and treat us as the same, to not see us by the color of our skin or how we look, but as human beings who live here. Not just for me, but for my children and other people who come here and want to treat this as their home.”
In November, the court rejected the county’s request to throw out plaintiffs’ claims alleging the county placed Asian Americans in danger by restricting their access to water, according to the ACLU of Northern California.
The partial settlement comes more than a year after some Asian American landowners in Siskiyou County filed a discrimination lawsuit to halt a local zoning ordinance that Hmong Americans say discriminates and blocks their water supply.
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In 2022, the ACLU of Northern California, Asian Law Caucus and Covington & Burling LLP filed the class action lawsuit alleging discriminatory restrictions on water access, racial profiling in traffic stops, improper search and seizure practices and unlawful property liens targeting Asian Americans.
The legal team filed a supplemental complaint alleging that the county was using zoning enforcement to deprive Asian Americans of water.
This story was updated to add new information.
Michele Chandler covers public safety, dining and whatever else comes up for the Redding Record Searchlight/USA Today Network. Accepts story tips at 530-338-7753 and at mrchandler@gannett.com. Please support our entire newsroom’s commitment to public service journalism by subscribing today.