Two Memphis women are suing the city and police after the pair said they were racially profiled while trying to get a movie from Redbox, WREG reports.
On Tuesday (October 24), Kadejah Townes and Patrina Finley, who are both Black, filed a lawsuit against the City of Memphis, former Memphis Police Director Mike Rallings, and former MPD officer Alexis Brown, alleging racial discrimination and profiling.
Townes and Finley were getting a movie from a Redbox outside of Walgreens in February 2021 when Memphis police officers rushed inside the store, according to the lawsuit. Two officers later came out of the store and walked toward Townes' car, where they asked the women if they had heard about a shooting in the area.
The women said no, and the two officers walked away.
However, as the pair began to leave the parking lot, two more officers pulled over Townes' car, according to the suit. One of the officers, identified as Brown, asked to see both of their IDs because she saw them laughing in the car, the suit states.
Townes said she told Brown she had already spoken with another officer to which police responded “Y’all over here laughing. I need to see your ID. As a matter of fact, get out of the car.”
When Townes got out of the car, Brown “intentionally, maliciously, and with excessive force,” grabbed her right shoulder and dislocated it. Both of the women were put in handcuffs. Finley was later released while Townes was taken into custody. When Townes arrived at Jail East, she was "denied entrance" and taken home by officers, according to the lawsuit.
The lawsuit alleges that other White individuals were allowed to get movies and laugh without being arrested. Townes and Finley said they are now “terrified of the Memphis Police Department” and suffer from PTSD.
They are asking for $500,000 in damages.
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