Police to Study Search Policy After Traffic Stop of Judge

The Los Angeles Police Department is reevaluating when officers should conduct “felony prone searches” of motorists stopped for driving violations, a spokesman said Tuesday.

Cmdr. David Kalish said the review was ordered as a result of a controversy over a traffic stop in Venice last summer of a car carrying a Virginia state judge, her husband and a Los Angeles schoolteacher.

All three, who are African Americans, filed a civil rights suit in federal court Monday contending that because of their race they were ordered out of their car at gunpoint, handcuffed, searched and forced to lie face down in the street. They were allowed to leave after about half an hour. No charges were filed, and no citations were issued.

Kalish said the officers had probable cause to stop the car because a DMV check indicated, apparently in error, that the license plate belonged to another car. He denied that they were singled out because they were black.

He said the officers resorted to a “high-risk stop” because the car’s windows were tinted, limiting their ability to see inside, and because an occupant was “somewhat uncooperative.”

Kalish disputed a statement by the plaintiffs’ lawyer, Stephen Yagman, that police officials had refused to investigate the episode.

“It’s in the adjudication process right now,” Kalish said. That process involves an initial investigation by supervisors at the Pacific Division, which patrols Venice; an Internal Affairs Division review and a final sign-off by Chief Bernard C. Parks.