Councilman Marqueece Harris-Dawson Speaks Out: The Truth Behind the Alleged ‘Racist Traffic Stop

The president of the Los Angeles City Council recently shared his experience regarding a traffic stop he claims was racially motivated. The police, however, cited his erratic driving in a school zone as the reason for the stop. He has not disclosed whether he reached out to anyone to have the situation dismissed.

In an interview with the Los Angeles Times, Marqueece Harris-Dawson discussed the incident, stating that he made several phone calls while an officer issued him a ticket. He characterized the encounter as racial profiling.

The New York Post reported that Harris-Dawson contacted a member of the Los Angeles Unified School District Board of Education seeking assistance in having the ticket dismissed.

“I called several people during that encounter so that there was a record of it besides myself,” Harris-Dawson explained to the Times.

This incident has led to further scrutiny, with the largest police union in Los Angeles demanding an investigation into whether Harris-Dawson attempted to leverage his position to evade the citation.

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He said an unmarked car followed him through multiple intersections as he headed toward an off-ramp before pulling him over.

The politician claimed the LA School Police department officer officer clutched the gun on his waist as he walked up to Harris-Dawson’s government-issued Tesla. He also said he thought the officer could have been an immigration agent.

“Because it was an unmarked car … I thought I was dealing with Immigration and Customs Enforcement,” he said.

Harris-Dawson claimed the stop was “not about vehicle safety,” though he was cited for violating the state vehicle code that prohibits motorists from driving the double-yellow lines.

“That stop was not about traffic safety,” he told the Times. “It was an investigative stop where the officer decided to give a citation, frankly, because I failed the attitude test.”

He has since paid the $238 citation and is “weighing” his legal options. He said he has been stopped by police four times driving in his government-issued vehicle.

Harris-Dawson previously recounted the incident at a council meeting, emotional describing the experience “as traumatic on Wednesday as when I was 16.”

The Board of Directors of the Los Angeles Police Protective League previously said Harris-Dawson deserves an Oscar for “fictitious stories told by elected officials” in trying to shift the blame from himself to the officer.

“City Council President Marqueece Harris-Dawson’s attempt to influence public policy by concocting a harrowing and self-serving personal account of an incident that leaves out substantive facts about the incident is both unethical and a lie of omission,” a spokesperson said.

The Post contacted Harris-Dawson’s office for comment.