Racial Profiling? Police Stopped Evangelical Hispanic Pastor 'For Looking Like a Drug Dealer'
A Hispanic pastor recently visiting an Iowa church claims local police racially profiled him in the parking lot of a hotel, telling him he "fit a profile of a drug dealer."
The Rev. Tony Suarez, vice president of the National Hispanic Christian Leadership Conference, was visiting the Iglesia Pentecostal Unida International church in Des Moines, Iowa this past weekend when he was stopped by police on Saturday night at around 11:30 p.m. The pastor lives in Virginia with his wife and three children, but was invited to the Des Moines church as a guest speaker.
On Saturday evening, Suarez, who is of Colombian descent, had been commuting from a local drug store to his hotel, the Hampton Inn, when he noticed police following him in his rear view mirror. Distracted by the police car in his rear view mirror, Suarez told the Des Moines Register that he pulled his vehicle, a white BMW he borrowed from a church member, into the Quality Inn & Suites by accident.
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"The police followed me into the parking lot, pulled up next to me, and within minutes harassing me for my ID, why I am in Des Moines, how I make a living, why I was driving the vehicle I was using and on and on," Suarez wrote on his personal blog.
"I asked if I had broken a law or was being detained to which they replied no but that they wanted to talk with me. They said I 'fit a profile' and look exactly like a drug dealer they are looking for. I asked on what basis and the criteria given was 'like you.'"
The pastor added to the Des Moines Register that police asked to search his car; Suarez told the police they could not search his car.
Suarez writes on his personal blog that he believes he was racially profiled because the police asked to see his identification without probable cause. "Friends, as Americans we enjoy something called 'limited government'. We don't live in a police state. Law enforcement cannot search you or even ask for ID without probably cause."
The pastor goes on to write that because he believes he has been racially profiled, he has contacted the mayor's office, the chief of police, Congressman Tom Latham and the Vice Unit of the Des Moines Police Department to file a complaint about the incident.
"Profiling of any kind cannot be tolerated. Rather than enjoy the city of Des Moines this evening, I think it is best to stay in my hotel room," Suarez wrote on his blog on June 14.
A separate article by the Des Moines Register indicates that the local police department will review audio and video from the Saturday night exchange. "The investigation will be thorough and it will be complete," Des Moines Police Chief Judy Bradshaw told the local media outlet. "But it might take a few days."
Scott Crawford, assistant manager at the Quality Inn where Suarez parked his car, told the Des Moines Register that he didn't think the police officers' behavior qualified as racial profiling. "They kind of started harassing him, but I don't think they were racially profiling him. The guy seemed to be making more problems than not."
