Skip to content
Connect
Stories

Judge’s ruling confirms Maine cop racially profiled ‘thug’ driver caught with cocaine, pills, and gun

People in this story

NewsOne, November 2021


A federal judge in Portland, Maine ruled that evidence found by state troopers during a traffic stop cannot be used in court because officers racially profiled a black motorist before pulling him over. According to authorities, in August 2019, Trooper John Darcy pulled over a black motorist driving through York, Maine. Police seized about 140 grams of cocaine, 880 counterfeit prescription pills, and a fully loaded gun from the car during the stop. But moments before the stop, Darcy was recorded telling another officer through walkie-talkie that the black motorist had dreadlocks, looked like a “thug,” and had on a wifebeater. Monday the U.S. District Judge Nancy Torresen ruled that the initial stop was unconstitutional because Darcy racially profiled the black motorist and none of the evidence collected could be used in the case.

What seemed like a slam dunk case filled with tons of incriminating evidence was now looking like a disaster for the prosecution. The decision could lead to the dismissal of all charges in the case.

Continue reading at NewsOne.

More Stories

Picture of Dasani water bottles.

Gov. Healey to sign order banning single-use plastic bottles for state agencies

09.21.2023
Co-founder Andrew Song of solar geoengineering startup Make Sunsets holds a weather balloon filled with helium, air and sulfur dioxide at a park in Reno, Nevada, United States on February 12, 2023.

Some Politicians Want to Research Geoengineering as a Climate Solution. Scientists Are Worried

09.18.2023
Plastics and other trash littered a salt marsh in Chelsea in April.

Massachusetts lags on banning plastics

09.25.23
Op-eds