Sheri McMahon, Harassment of Minorities

To the Editor:

Last summer, a middle-aged Fargo man named Michael began walking the streets of downtown Fargo, carrying a notebook, a sign, and a story to tell. A few years ago, Michael had a problem with a local pawnshop dealer.

The story goes that Michael asked the pawnbroker to return his ring, then went to the police. He was directed to a particular detective. It turned out that the incident with the pawnbroker was merely prologue to a long, nightmarish chapter in Michael’s life—a nightmare he does not believe has ended yet.

First, goes the story, it took a week to get an appointment with the detective—no other officer would take Michael’s report. Then the detective did not show up, but instead called Michael and began to accuse him of having stolen the ring. Over the weeks and months to come, Michael struggled to even get a report taken, going to a senator’s office and city officials to get help.
Finally, Michael was arrested himself—on charges of stealing the ring, making a false report to police, and interfering with a police investigation—even though the only apparent investigation was the one Michael had sought in order to recover his property.

He was jailed and offered a plea agreement: admit you are guilty, and we’ll keep it down to one year in jail.

Michael refused. Ultimately, prosecutors dropped the charges against him. This chapter of Michael’s life had been drawn out for more than a year.

Then, with the help of an attorney, he sought recompense. Michael ultimately received a settlement of $15,000 from the city, with no acknowledgment of any wrong by the police officer—and no charges against the pawnbroker. He also recovered his ring, three years after it was taken from him.

Michael also found that his life had changed. Suddenly, he found himself repeatedly stopped by police officers. His car was searched, he was accused of drinking and driving.

When a car in the neighborhood where he and his extended family live was hit by another car while parked, an officer had no difficulty deciding that a car belonging to Michael’s sister and driven by his nephew had caused the damage—without seeing that car.

Since then, another attorney has reviewed photographs of the two vehicles and the police report, concluding that the evidence does not support the officer’s conclusion—that there is no evidence the car belonging to Michael’s sister ever collided with the parked car.

Since no ticket was ever issued to the nephew alleged to be driving, there was no opportunity to officially correct the record. Meanwhile, Michael’s sister’s auto insurance paid for the damage to the parked vehicle—and cancelled her policy, increasing her premiums when she obtained a policy from another company.

A police video from another incident shows the view from a squad car meeting Michael’s car. Although there is no indication of any problem with Michael’s driving, the squad car makes an abrupt U-turn and follows Michael’s car to a gas station. As Michael prepares to put gas in his tank, an officer strides up to him demanding to know “how much he has had to drink.” But Michael asks the officer why he is harassing him. The video shows a protracted encounter. Other officers arrive. The first officer’s demeanor changes from accusatory to the quintessential officer who is embattled but striving to be patient. Eventually Michael is allowed to leave without any citation.

Michael’s quest downtown was to “stop police harassment, violence, and corruption.” He reports disparaging remarks by officers—one who confronted him and told him to “get a real job.” He reports that police cars would park near his relatives’ homes. This made his family—which includes more recent immigrants than him—uneasy, and Michael says that by now, many of his Vietnamese friends don’t want to ride in the same car as him. They believe that only trouble can come of it.

Michael is Vietnamese-American. He came to the U.S. after fleeing Vietnam with his family, dodging pirate boats and living first as a refugee in Malaysia. Although his English is good, a native English speaker must sometimes make a considerable effort to understand him.

Michael keeps striving to bring his story to people who, he believes, have the power to change things. It is a frustrating quest. More than once he has been asked, “What are you looking for? Are you looking for money?” He says no, he is looking for justice.

I pointed out to him that, in way our culture looks at things—partly this is Western culture, but also the regional culture within the American culture within the Western culture—his grievances are small. Nobody got arrested for the car accident that, as he puts it, “did not exist.” In spite of traffic stops and accusations, he has not been cited.

Michael tells people, “I am dead, not alive, because of these things happening.” I think what he means is that he no longer feels able to live a normal life. He must always be on the watch for anything the police might regard as reason to stop him, detain him, question him, search his car.

-Sheri McMahon
Fargo