LA Politician Claims Racial Profiling by Police: Fresh Insights Unveiled

The president of the Los Angeles City Council, Marqueece Harris-Dawson, has faced criticism following his emotional claims that he was unfairly targeted by police due to his race.

Harris-Dawson shared with his colleagues that he had been stopped by officers without justification and questioned about his occupation, describing the encounter as racially motivated.

However, law enforcement released information challenging his account, indicating that he was stopped by the Los Angeles School Police Department for committing a traffic violation within a school zone.

Sources have also disclosed that during the incident, Harris-Dawson attempted to contact high-ranking officials at the Los Angeles Unified School District to avoid receiving a citation.

The Los Angeles Police Protective League’s Board of Directors criticized Harris-Dawson, suggesting that his attempt to deflect responsibility was more theatrical than truthful.

A spokesperson told the California Post, “City Council President Marqueece Harris-Dawson’s effort to sway public opinion through a dramatized and self-serving narrative, omitting key facts, is both unethical and misleading.”

“If there was an Academy Award category for fictitious stories told by elected officials, then Mr. Harris-Dawson’s theatrical performance at the city council hearing would deliver him an Oscar at Sunday’s ceremony.”

Harris-Dawson told colleagues last week that pretextual traffic stops in Los Angeles are “grossly racially biased,” claiming 85% involve “black and brown” drivers.

He then described what he called a troubling encounter with police earlier that week, saying officers questioned him about his car and his job with the city.

“In fact, I’m the president of the council,” he said he told them while standing on a street corner on his way to a committee meeting.

The lawmaker appeared emotional while recounting the incident, saying the experience was “as traumatic on Wednesday as when I was 16.”

But cops disputed his account, saying the stop was not carried out by the LAPD — as Harris-Dawson had implied — but by officers with the Los Angeles School Police Department during morning drop-off near a high school.

Officials said the officer stopped Harris-Dawson after observing a moving traffic violation in a school zone. Now, newly revealed details paint a clearer picture of what allegedly happened before the stop.

Police say Harris-Dawson first caught an officer’s attention by driving erratically on the freeway.

He then exited directly in front of the patrol car and crossed the center divider to make an illegal U-turn — a maneuver banned under California law that carries a $238 fine, adds a point to a driver’s DMV record and can lead to higher insurance premiums.

Authorities said the violation occurred near a school while children were arriving for morning drop-off.

A senior source also confirmed Harris-Dawson contacted a member of the Los Angeles Unified School District board during the traffic stop in an apparent effort to get out of the citation.

The Post reached out to Harris-Dawson for comment on the allegation but did not receive a response. The claims have sparked outrage from the city’s powerful police union.

In a sharply worded statement, the union representing nearly 10,000  LAPD members accused the council president of misleading the public and urging authorities to “get to the bottom of this unethical and sordid episode.”

“As British historian Lord Acton said, ‘Power tends to corrupt, absolute power corrupts absolutely,” a spokesman told The Post. “He was cited for an egregious moving violation near a school with children during morning drop-off time. Full Stop.”

The controversy comes as the Los Angeles City Council has been debating whether to limit or ban certain pretextual traffic stops — where officers pull over drivers for minor infractions while investigating other potential crimes.

While those stops are legal under federal law, critics argue they are often used as a pretext for racial profiling.

Harris-Dawson had cited his own experience as an example during the hearing — though he did not disclose at the time that he had received a traffic citation during the stop.

The council president has also said he has been pulled over four times while driving a government-issued vehicle with an “E-plate,” which designates a city-owned car.

“As a Member of the Council, driving in a government-issued vehicle with an E-plate, I have been stopped four times,” he wrote in a Facebook post linking to video of his testimony.

The latest revelations, however, have fueled criticism from law enforcement advocates who argue the council president mischaracterized the incident — turning what they say was a routine traffic stop into a political flashpoint.

“If reports are true that he phoned a Los Angeles school board member during the lawful traffic stop so the board member could speak with the officer during the stop, an investigation must be launched to determine what Mr. Harris-Dawson asked the school board member to do,” the union rep said.

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