'Parking While Black' Is Not Probable Cause for an Arrest

Can the police detain and search you on the suspicion that your car might be parked illegally? A federal appeals court has said yes, upholding a felon-in-possession conviction for a man who was searched after Milwaukee police surrounded the parked car he was sitting in and handcuffed its four occupants -- because the car was parked within 15 feet of a crosswalk. The outraged dissenting judge said that the defendant had been stopped for “parking while black,” and insisted that the holding went beyond anything the Supreme Court ever authorized.

The decision, by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit, offers a Rashomon-like model of diverging perceptions. To read the majority opinion by Judge Frank Easterbrook, a Reagan appointee, you would think that the events were pretty unremarkable. In his telling, the case began when police “saw a car stopped within 15 feet of a crosswalk, which is unlawful” in Milwaukee unless the car is loading or unloading. One police car drew up beside the parked car and another behind. “Shining lights through the car's windows (it was after sunset), police saw a passenger in the backseat trying to hide a firearm.”