Alabama mall cop sicced K-9 unit on black teenager in shocking racial profiling scandal: report
An Alabama mall is being sued for $25 million after a security worker's K-9 unit allegedly attacked a juvenile during a racial profiling incident.
"Attorney’s representing five young African-American males announced Monday a $25 million lawsuit against a Mobile mall after alleging racially motivated harassment, violence and a security dog attack during a shopping trip less than two weeks ago," the Mobile Press Register reported Monday.
“Dogs were used to control African-Americans during the civil rights protests in Birmingham, Alabama, in 1963 and it appears with this incident that we haven’t made much progress,” victim's attorney L. Chris Stewart said.
One major question is why a shopping mall ever thought they needed a K-9 unit in the first place.
"We have numerous questions for Brookfield Properties, The Shoppes at Bel Air and Allied Universal Security regarding why their security guards were so aggressive and also why a K-9, trained to attack on command, is patrolling a shopping mall," Steward said.
"After [fifteen-year-old Cameron Robinson] complained that mall security officers had racially profiled the group, a K-9 unit security guard allegedly slammed the handcuffed 16-year-old on his head and ordered his Dutch Shepherd to attack him, according to the second attorney representing the group, Justin Miller, a partner at Morgan & Morgan," the newspaper reported.
“He forced me to the ground aggressively and the let the dog out at me,” Robinson told WKRG-TV. “I blacked out when he slammed me to the ground.”
The injuries resulted in Robinson spending two and a half days in the hospital.
“Just to see him sitting on the curb, bleeding, looking up at me crying, saying ‘Mama, they put the dog on me, I didn’t do anything,’ it just broke my heart,” his mother, Calandra Smith, said.
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