Reference no: EM133299483

Topic: Racial Profiling: A "Watershed Experience" in Rawle Maynard's Life

Case Study: On a Saturday morning in late November 2005, Rawle Maynard left his Toronto office and headed to his parents' home in Scarborough. He was driving a two-door black BMW, licensed to his father. At a little after 11:15 a.m., he noticed that a police car had taken a U-turn and was now following him. He drove carefully, monitoring his speed, given that a police officer was driving right behind him. He was not sure that the patrol car, driven by Police Officer Ryan Baker, was following him, however, until he made a final turn onto his parents' street and the police car stayed with him. He pulled into his parents' driveway and parked the car next to the garage. The police officer pulled up to the edge of the driveway and stopped. Maynard was on his cellphone, talking to a wedding planner, and telling her that he was going to get out of the car and see what the officer wanted. Maynard had, according to his later testimony, "no apprehension about approaching Officer Baker because he had nothing but positive interactions with police officers in the past." He asked the officer if there was a problem, and if he was being followed. The officer responded aggressively, asking Maynard where he was coming from. He replied that he did not have to tell the officer anything without first having an explanation as to why this information was needed. After repeated refusals to tell the officer where he was coming from, Officer Baker drew his firearm and pointed it at Maynard. Maynard quickly became very frightened, afraid that he would be shot. He continued to talk on his cellphone, telling the wedding planner to call his parents, and then he hung up. An additional three police vehicles pulled up to the house and police officers ran from their cars; Maynard now had four guns pointed at him. He was asked to walk backward and to drop to his knees, which he did. He was then put in the back of a police car. Within minutes police received a call that the suspect they were looking for had been seen on foot, wearing red-clearly not Maynard. The officers spoke among themselves, and then let Maynard out of the police cruiser and returned his keys to him. "Sorry, man," Officer Baker said, putting his hand out to Maynard, "we're looking for someone who fits your description, 6 feet, black and slim." "The only part that I fit was I was black," Maynard responded. Officer Baker had followed Maynard that morning after receiving a call that a black man with a gun had been at the Malvern Town Centre, driving a black sports car. After the incident, Maynard launched an action with the Ontario Human Rights Commission, alleging discrimination on the basis of colour, ethnic origin, and race, in respect of policing services. In June 2012, the Ontario Human Rights Tribunal handed down its decision regarding Maynard's claim. Vice-Chair Leslie Reaume wrote: The problem is that Officer Baker cast his investigative net so wide that Mr. Maynard's race was the predominant factor that put him at risk of being investigated that day. I do not believe that if the suspect had been a Caucasian man in the same circumstances, with no other defining characteristics, particularly age, and with as little information available about the car and direction of travel, that Officer Baker would have chosen to investigate the first Caucasian man he saw driving the same car at the same intersection. It is consistent with a finding of racial profiling that all black men or all black men of a certain age, driving alone in the area in a black car, were possible suspects at the moment that Officer Baker decided to commence his investigation of Mr. Maynard. In my view, having commenced an investigation in whole or in part on the basis of racial bias, the events that ensued at [Maynard's parents' home] cannot be disentangled from that initial act. (Maynard v. Toronto Police Services Board, 2012, paras. 176-177) The tribunal awarded Rawle Maynard $40,000 for "injury to dignity, feelings, and self-respect." Maynard had testified that this was a watershed experience in his life, humiliating him in front of his friends and neighbours, and leaving him with a continuing sense of anxiety and fear whenever he sees a police officer.

Question 1: What can you say about this case?

Question 2: Does this case study seem to you like an isolated incident? Or do you think it is representative of a larger problem?

Question 3: What does this case study suggest about police attitudes toward visible minorities?

Question 4: What broader social issues does an incident such as this bring to the foreground?

Question 5: Can you think of other situations in which racial profiling occurs?