PORTLAND, Maine (AP) - An attorney claims state police engaged in racial profiling when they stopped a van filled with immigrants on Interstate 295 in Maine.
The Portland Press Herald reports attorney Robert Andrews presented his argument Wednesday during a court hearing for his client Mario Ernesto Garcia-Zavala. The 22-year-old pleaded not guilty to illegally re-entering the U.S. following a September traffic stop in Portland.
State trooper Robert Burke III claims he stopped the van containing Garcia-Zavala and others because the windshield was cracked and the front passenger wasn’t wearing a seatbelt.
However, Andrews submitted video clips from Burke’s dashboard camera that he says shows racial profiling. Burke is heard in the video mentioning U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement and insulting the passengers in the van.
The prosecutor declined comment after Wednesday’s hearing.
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Information from: Portland Press Herald, http://www.pressherald.com
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