Loudoun NAACP Alleges Racial Profiling By Sheriff's Deputies

LOUDOUN COUNTY, VA — The Loudoun NAACP is calling for an independent investigation into the Loudoun County Sheriff's Office after a Black motorist was stopped Thursday on Route 7 in the Ashburn area for a broken brake light and then had his car searched for drugs. The Loudoun NAACP is calling the incident, where the motorist was handcuffed, a clear example of racial profiling by the sheriff's office.

Sheriff’s deputies in five vehicles arrived at the scene where Kaheem Arkim Smith had pulled over on Route 7 after seeing a police car behind him with its flashers on, Smith said Friday at a news conference outside the headquarters of the LCSO. Smith appeared at the news conference with his wife and two children.

After he stopped, Smith said a sheriff's deputy told him he was pulled over because of a defective brake light. But then a police K9 was brought to his car to conduct a drug search.

Smith said sheriff's deputies handcuffed him and searched his car without his consent. Deputies tore his back seat apart and left items they had pulled from the center console strewn on the seat and floor, he said at the news conference.

Eventually, the sheriff's deputies said Smith was allowed to leave, although they did not return property they had taken from him. Smith filed a formal complaint about the incident with the sheriff’s office on Thursday.

Along with an immediate independent investigation, the Loudoun NAACP, in a Facebook post, called for the "termination of all LCSO deputies involved in the racial profiling and harassment of Mr. Smith."

"You will not get away with this,” Loudoun NAACP President Michelle Thomas said Friday at the news conference.

The sheriff’s office released a statement Friday afternoon in which it said it is aware of the allegations of an illegal traffic stop conducted by members of its agency. The LCSO said the traffic stop was conducted "as part of an ongoing investigation" and that it is limited in the information it can release at this time.

In the same statement, the LCSO said the traffic stop was made for a defective rear brake light. As part of the traffic stop, a K9 unit alerted deputies to the "presence of possible drugs," the sheriff's office said.

"At that time, a search of the vehicle was conducted. No narcotics were located. The driver was issued a warning for an improper brake light," the sheriff's said.

During the traffic stop, Smith said the deputies told him he could not film the interaction, although filming law enforcement officers in public is legal. After the search was over, the deputies allowed him to film a portion of the incident.

Thomas said the Loudoun NAACP is demanding accountability from the LCSO, especially given recent statements by Loudoun County Board Supervisors Tony Buffington (R) and Caleb Kershner (R) that there is no systemic racism in the sheriff’s office.

Thomas questioned whether a white driver would have had his vehicle searched for drugs if stopped for a defective brake light.

At Friday's news conference, Thomas asked Loudoun County Sheriff Mike Chapman to release the deputies’ body camera and dash camera footage and audio and demanded that the sheriff’s office immediately pay for damage to Smith’s car, according to a video of the news conference produced by Loudoun Now.

Chapman has pushed back against calls for greater accountability of his office. Two months ago, at a virtual forum sponsored by the Loudoun NAACP, Chapman said a civilian review board is not needed in the county because he is "held accountable by the citizens of the county anyway because I'm an elected official." Sheriffs in Virginia are elected to four-year terms.

Leesburg council member Ron Campbell, who also spoke at Friday's news conference, said the LCSO's accountability "is not at the ballot box. It’s to the people right here, right now, right today."

"We cannot wait for the next election, four years from now, for justice to be served, and the culture of this sheriff’s department to be turned around," he said.

Campbell said the LCSO needs to be fully transparent in its investigation of the incident and that a full report will need to be released to the public.

"We will not tolerate any longer a culture of threats, lies and intimidation against this Black community, against this Black family, against any family in Loudoun County," he said.

After the LCSO deputies permitted Smith to record the latter part of the incident, Smith asked one of the deputies why the LCSO needed five cars for a traffic stop involving a defective brake light.

"Because we're allowed to," the deputy responded.