UCLA police union says video will refute racial profiling claim

The union representing UCLA police officers said Wednesday that video from a patrol car camera will contradict a claim that a 46-year-old African American UCLA facilities employee was the victim of racial profiling during an arrest last week.

The UCLA Peace Officers Assn. released a statement disputing an account of the incident by the employee’s attorney, Carl Douglas.

Douglas said earlier this week that police had no legal justification to pull over his client, Claudius E. Gaines III, as he was driving home from his shift at the university on Aug. 27. Douglas said officers called for backup and threatened Gaines with pepper spray when Gaines questioned the reason for the stop.

The allegation came after the university’s police department came under scrutiny last year when a prominent African American judge accused officers of using excessive force when he was stopped after leaving a nearby gym. The university ultimately settled a legal claim by the judge, agreeing to pay $500,000, including $350,000 for scholarships, and to provide additional training to officers. Douglas represented Los Angeles County Superior Court Judge David Cunningham III in that case.

The police union’s president, Jeffrey Chobanian, said in Wednesday’s statement that “Douglas has repeatedly made remarks which misrepresent” the actions of officers in the two cases.

“There are police dashboard camera videos available which any member of the media could request through the Public Records Act,” the statement said. “We are extremely confident if the video is released of either incident, the officer’s actions would be clearly justified and professional.”

In July, UCLA rejected a records request by The Times to publicly release video and audio recordings from Cunningham’s traffic stop. The university said it had determined that “the requested recordings are investigatory records that are exempt from disclosure” and that “all records associated with an internal affairs review are protected from disclosure” under a state law that protects the confidentiality of police disciplinary records.

In the wake of last week’s arrest, the university said Gaines refused to comply with the officers’ requests to provide them with his driving documents or to get out of his car.

Douglas said that Gaines, a probationary employee with the facilities department at UCLA, had no criminal record and was wearing a UCLA uniform with an identity badge on a chain around his neck when he was stopped.

The attorney said an officer initially told Gaines that he had been stopped because the light over his rear license plate had not been working, but Gaines objected, saying he had just checked the light after a traffic stop for a broken tail light on Aug. 15. The officer then said Gaines had been seen talking on his cellphone while driving, but Gaines denied using his phone.

At that point, the officer called for backup, Douglas said. A third officer arrived and told his client to get out or he would be pepper sprayed, Douglas said. Gaines complied, the lawyer said.

Gaines was booked at the campus police department’s headquarters, issued a citation and released.

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