On a busy afternoon on Beverly Drive, a Black delivery driver was boxed in by multiple Beverly Hills Police Department officers—over what appeared to be a simple parking infraction.
No threat. No weapons. Just a person doing their job—and suddenly surrounded. This scene doesn't feel normal. Because it's not.
Context: A City Under Legal Scrutiny
Beverly Hills is amid a $500 million class-action lawsuit led by civil rights attorneys Ben Crump and Bradley Gage, alleging systemic racial profiling by BHPD’s “Rodeo Drive” and “Safe Streets” task forces. From August 2019 to August 2021:
1,088 Black people were arrested, but only two led to convictions
About one-third of all city-wide arrests were of Black people—despite them making up just 1.5% of the population
Nearly 90% of arrests by the Rodeo Drive task force targeted Black individuals
Ben Crump didn't mince words:
“It wasn’t to deter crime. It was to send a message to Black people that we don’t want your kind around here. That is racial profiling 101!”
What This Means—and Why It Matters
Over-policing in action: A parking ticket shouldn’t lead to multiple officers descending—but when you're Black in Beverly Hills, it feels like you're under siege.
Actions speak louder than words: If this level of enforcement is visible with cameras rolling, imagine what happens when they’re not.
Lawsuit speaks for itself: Only 2 out of 1,088 arrests led to convictions—raising suspicions that some stops are not about public safety, but about exclusion.
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