Complaint Alleges Racial Bias In Harford County Sheriff's Office

BEL AIR, MD — A Maryland Legal Aid attorney has filed a complaint with the Harford County Sheriff's Office after he said that he was detained by a deputy. His attorneys said that he was questioned for "lawyering while black."

Rashad James, an attorney with the Baltimore-based Legal Aid, said he was in Harford County District Court in Bel Air on March 6 for his client, who was absent, regarding an expungement, which he obtained. He said it was his first time representing a client in Harford County.

"After the hearing, I encountered the officer who incorrectly called me by the name of the client," James said at a press conference on Tuesday, March 26.

When James corrected the officer, he said: "The officer asked for identification, which I produced...and asked if I could follow him to the interview room."

The officer requested his Maryland State Bar Association card and business card, which he did not have on him; then he asked for the name of his supervisor, whom he called to verify his identity, according to the press conference recorded by Fox 45.

"It should have been enough when Mr. James appeared in court and the judge accepted on the record that he was the attorney and his client was absent. That should have been enough at that moment. It wasn't enough for this officer," said Chelsea Crawford, an attorney with Brown, Goldstein & Levy, representing James.

"That wouldn't have happened if he were white," added attorney Andrew D. Freeman of Brown, Goldstein & Levy.

“If Mr. James were white, the officer would not have doubted that Mr. James was an attorney, would not have questioned his identity, and certainly would not have detained Mr. James after seeing his driver’s license,” Freeman said in a statement. "There is no plausible explanation other than racial bias.”

Harford County Sheriff Jeffrey Gahler told media that his office had received the complaint, and the Office of Professional Standards was investigating.

The legal team for James is requesting an apology, sensitivity training for officers and for a record of the incident to be placed in the file of the officer who detained James, WBAL reports.

Maryland Legal Aid called the incident "deeply disturbing," in a statement to WBAL. It described James as an "extremely talented and dedicated civil legal aid attorney" representing "Maryland's poorest and most vulnerable individuals and communities" across the state, according to the organization, which said its goal in filing the complaint was "to prevent an incident like this from ever happening again."