Nation - Nebraska Colorado man sues county, alleging profiling Alleges police asked him questions about his ethnicity

By Nelson Lampe Associated Press Writer OMAHA, Neb. (AP) -- A naturalized U.S. citizen with roots in the Middle East has sued a Nebraska county and its sheriff's office, alleging he was a victim of racial profiling while passing through Omaha. The American Civil Liberties Union of Nebraska said it filed the lawsuit this week in Douglas County District Court for Michael Omair, who lives in Aurora, Colo. "We believe this is intentional discrimination in violation of the Constitution," said Amy Miller, ACLU Nebraska's legal director. Chief Deputy Marty Bilek of the Douglas County Sheriff's Office declined to speak directly to the lawsuit's allegations, saying he would need to review the incident reports. But Bilek said he's confident his colleagues don't practice racial profiling. Omair alleges in the lawsuit that he was driving a New York-licensed vehicle to Colorado when he was pulled over on Interstate 80 in Omaha by a sheriff's deputy in August 2008. The deputy had pulled up alongside twice and made eye contact with Omair before dropping behind Omair's vehicle and turning on the cruiser's lights, according to the lawsuit. The deputy told Omair that he was pulled over for speeding but then began asking questions about his race and ethnicity, according to the ACLU. Omair was born in Jordan and became a U.S. citizen more than 30 years ago. A patrol dog then was brought to the scene, and the deputy told Omair that the dog had signaled that there were drugs in the vehicle. Omair alleges deputies searched the vehicle and his luggage for at least two hours, damaging the vehicle and some of Omair's property. He was not ticketed. "They threw my clothes and luggage onto the side of the road so everything got dirty," Omair said in a news release from the ACLU. "They dismantled portions of the car, including disconnecting the air bags. And while they paged through my Quran they ripped some of the pages. "I'm a Christian now but that Quran has great value to me since I've had it since my childhood," he said in the statement. The lawsuit seeks unspecified compensation for damage to his property and for the anxiety and embarrassment the stop and search caused him, an acknowledgment that officials violated his civil rights and training to ensure that deputies don't engage in racial profiling. The state of Nebraska said in an April report that the number of reported cases of racial profiling in traffic stops has risen steadily during the past three years, from 11 in 2007 to 32 last year. The 32 allegations were among more than 483,000 traffic stops reported in 2009, according to the Nebraska Crime Commission. There were 22 reported cases in 2008. Since a 2001 law banning racial profiling, state law enforcement agencies have been required to collect profiling data. Published: Fri, Aug 20, 2010

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