E.J. Simpson’s Story

E.J. Simpson is a fourteen-year-old boy who lives in De Soto Parish and attends the local middle school. One night in April 2008 as he was leaving a school dance, he was taken into custody by the police. That night outside the dance, a scuffle broke out between teenagers. E.J. was not involved. In fact, he ran in the opposite direction to get away from the fight. But when police appeared on the scene, they saw E.J.—a black teenager in a hooded sweatshirt—and chased after him. The police drew a gun on E.J., pushed him to the ground, and put him in handcuffs. Scared and shaken, E.J. was taken to the police station and held there, until the police could determine he had done nothing wrong. Instead of driving E.J., a teenager with no way to get home, back to his mother’s house and apologizing for what had happened, the police ordered E.J to call his mother and have her pick him up at the station. When E.J.’s mother arrived, the police said nothing about what had happened or why they had pulled a gun on her son.The police had no reason to believe E.J.was involved in the fight. He just happened to be at the dance that night. E.J.’s mother Joy is still upset about the incident. The police in De Soto assume “every little black boy wearing a hoodie is a criminal,” she told us.

Source: Unequal Under the Law: Racial Profiling in Louisiana by ACLU Louisiana (August 2008)