Crime & Safety
Dearborn Settles $40K Suit with Woman Ticketed Because She Has HIV
With his dashcam rolling, Dearborn police officer said if woman had disclosed her HIV status earlier, he likely wouldn't have ticketed her.
A Detroit woman who was issued a ticket for marijuana possession in 2012 after failing to tell a police officer that she had HIV will receive a $40,000 settlement from the city of Dearborn.
The payment settles a lawsuit Shalandra Jones filed against the city in 2014 alleging that Officer David Lacey shamed her for not disclosing earlier that she had HIV. The video dashcam was rolling at the time, and Lacey said he “did ot want to take any diseases home to his family,” and noted that “Dearborn does not have that many people living with HIV, and the police do not like people with HIV.”
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Jones had an expired medical marijuana card, and the charge was dismissed last year.
Dearborn spokeswman Mary Laundroche said the incident was “isolated” to a single officer and “not reflective of the behavior of our police department.”
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“Respect for everyone is emphasized in all police department training,” Landroche said.
In the video, Lacey can be heard telling Jones and the driver of the vehicle, Mark Scott, that he pulled the vehicle over because it had a brake light out.
“I thought, ‘Well, you know what? I’m bored.’ So, might as well, it’s worth a stop,” he said.
He also commented about the quality of the marijuana and said, “It’s pretty good stuff, wherever you got it from.” Later, he said, “Wherever you got it from, it’s a good spot.”
After learning Jones had HIV, the officer said: “You just made me mad.”
“Honestly, if it wasn’t for that, I don’t think I would have wrote anybody for anything,” he said later. “But that kind of aggravated me, you know what I mean? You got to tell me, you know what I mean. You got to tell me right away. … Because at the time, I wasn’t wearing any gloves.”
Detroit Legal Services defended Jones in the lawsuit.
“I’m glad that Shalandra got some justice,” attorney Joshua Moore, the organization’s president, told the Free Press. “It was a pretty clear-ct case with the video. What happened to her was awful. No one should have to go through that.”
People who have HIV are not required to inform police of their status, and casual contact does not spread either HIV or AIDS.
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Screenshot via YouTube video
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