Milwaukee barber alleges racial profiling in federal lawsuit against Waukesha police
By: -----
Waukesha, WI - A Milwaukee barber filed a federal lawsuit against Waukesha police officers on Thursday after body camera footage showed what he describes as racial profiling during a traffic stop.
Jessie Watkins says officers detained and searched him without probable cause after finding him parked in a no-parking zone.
"It just felt like it was racial," Watkins said. "I don't care what they say. I felt it. I felt degraded, I felt humiliated, I just felt like officers of all people shouldn't behave that way."
As a well-known barber, Watkins says he always carries two phones.
"I have almost 400 regular clients," Watkins said. “I didn't want my business life to conflict with my personal life, so I went and got a second phone."
As a former truck driver, Watkins says he's particularly conscious about not texting while driving, which is why he pulled over. Watkins never thought those two decisions would be considered suspicious until Waukesha police officers approached him on April 17.
"He's got two phones,” an officer said. "How come you've got so many phones?"
Body camera footage shows officers approaching Watkins and questioning him about the multiple phones he had. Without further explanation, officers asked him to exit the vehicle and immediately escorted him away.
"What is suspicious about what {I am} doing?" Watkins can be heard asking in the footage.
"You're parked in a known drug-dealing area. It's a third-party vehicle, you have two phones, you're smoking," an officer responded.
"A known drug-dealing area?" Watkins questioned.
The officers proceeded to pat Watkins down, search his pockets, and place him in handcuffs.
"Being detained for what? For being Black? For being Black in Waukesha?" Watkins asked during the encounter.
When Watkins explained he had pulled over to avoid texting while driving, an officer responded skeptically.
"If you think I'm really going to buy that you're pulling over to text, does this look like my first day?” the officer said.
“Look at my phone then,” Watkins replied.
“Nobody does that, dude," the officer said.
Body camera video shows Watkins remained in handcuffs for 30 minutes while officers called a Waukesha County Sheriff's Office K-9 to sniff his car for drugs. They found a THC vape, but after realizing he had no drugs to sell, they released him without any citations.