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A black grandmother and two black teenagers who filed suit in 2008 accusing two Utah Highway Patrol troopers of conducting an illegal search of their vehicle for drugs based on alleged racial profiling have been vindicated by a federal jury, their attorney said Tuesday.
Sherida Felders was awarded $15,000 on Friday by a U.S. District Court jury, which found the search was illegal. Felders' two passengers were awarded nominal damages of $1 each.
Salt Lake City attorney Robert Sykes said Tuesday that the racial profiling portion of the case was dismissed by a district court judge in 2012, but added that his clients still believe they were searched because they are black.
The lawsuit claimed that trooper Brian Bairett had no reason to believe Felders' Jeep Commander contained illegal substances, but still called in a drug-sniffing dog after stopping her for speeding on Interstate 15 near Cedar City.
Although the canine never gave an initial exterior alert of a drug find and Felders refused to give permission for a search, Bairett and his supervisor opened all the luggage and unscrewed various compartments in the vehicles, according to the lawsuit. The lawsuit claims no drugs were found and that the search of Felders' vehicle was "based solely on her racial profile as a black woman along with a racial profile of the two young black men."
The lawsuit said Felders was stopped Nov. 20, 2008, while traveling with two young African-Americans — Elijah Madyun, then 17, and Delarryon Hansend, then 18 — from their San Diego homes to Fort Collins, Colo., to visit her grandson.
Bairett, who pulled the Jeep over for going 83 miles per hour in a 75 mph zone, according to the lawsuit, asked Felders if she had any methamphetamine, cocaine or crack.
The then-54-year-old woman said no, according to the lawsuit. And when Bairett called for a K-9 unit — provided by Iron County Sheriff's Deputy Jeff Malcom — Felders says, she asked Bairett what made him think she had any drugs in the vehicle.
The trooper allegedly pointed to the medals on his shoulder and said, "This makes me think it."
Sykes said Tuesday that the jury found that when the teens exited the vehicle, Bairett held the door open, and Malcom sent the dog, named Duke, inside, even though the K-9 had not alerted for drugs while outside the vehicle.
The dog, however, allegedly alerted to the smell of drugs about five minutes later, Sykes said.
Sykes said he plans to move the court to find against Malcom, even though the jury did not, on the basis of an inconsistent verdict.
Felders, who has been disabled with arthritis and torn tendons in her right hip since 2006, was forced to stand outside the car in the cold for almost two hours during the search and has had severe pain in her hip since then, the suit says.
The teens and Felders did not dispute the legality of the initial stop, but say the detention and search were unlawful because the trooper had no reasonable suspicion that they were engaged in criminal activity. The suit said Madyun and Hansend were responsible high school students who do not use drugs.
A UHP spokesman said in January 2009 that the agency had started an internal investigation of the incident even before the lawsuit was filed.
On Tuesday, the UHP told The Tribune they were unable to immediately respond to news of the jury verdict.
But officials did confirm that Bairett continues to be employed as a trooper.