Jackie Slater’s Wife Sues, Alleging Racial Bias

Annie Slater, who was detained by Costa Mesa police in October while shopping at South Coast Plaza, has filed suit against the city.

Slater, wife of St. Louis Rams player Jackie Slater, said her civil rights were violated when she was detained by Costa Mesa police who were searching for a black woman suspected of attempting to pass a bad check.

According to the suit, filed in Orange County Superior Court on Wednesday, Slater was questioned for 45 minutes by police officers, in full view of other shoppers, simply because she is African American.

Christopher Mears, Slater’s attorney, said Slater in no way fit the description of the woman the police were looking for.

“The suspect was a heavyset black woman who was about 5 feet, 11 inches tall, accompanied by another, younger black woman,” said Mears. “Annie is 5 feet, 6 inches tall, medium build and was with her two boys.”

The police department has launched an investigation into the matter but has not released a final report, said Costa Mesa City Manager Allan L. Roeder.

However, Roeder said his review of the reports thus far has not shown that Slater was mistreated by the police.

“So far, I have not seen anything that would constitute a violation of her civil rights,” he said.

There were significant inconsistencies between police and Slater’s accounts of events, which should be cleared up by the investigation, said Roeder.

But Mears said Slater is firm about proceeding with the lawsuit.

“What she is looking to achieve through her lawsuit is to draw some needed attention to what goes on in the life of many African Americans,” said Mears. “They are often subjected to detention and arrest simply because they are black and this is a shining example of that.”