EDWARD LAWSON Home Page | Directory |
1993 - Driving While Black in Beverly Hills
Los Angeles Times -- March 31, 1993
Los Angeles Times
Los Angeles Times - May 9, 2003
Journalist -- Patricia Ward Biederman - 1998 book on leadership |
Often law enforcement officers across the U.S. stop a citizen - then make false statements in written police reports about what happened after the stop to justify their conduct and an arrest. See 1994 New Jersey Police Report.
In this 1993 Beverly Hills case the police report charged
Lawson with:
-- failure to produce a driver's license on command,
-- giving false information to a police officer,
-- obstructing and delaying a police investigation.
Lawson was handcuffed by the police, and stood on the residential neighborhood sidewalk. "Seeing that Lawson was becoming even more uncooperative" may simply be the fact that Lawson invoked his Fifth Amendment Right To Remain Silent while in the custody of the police -- and that was considered by the officer to be "uncooperative."
Court Action
The facts stated do not constitute a public offense
Edward Lawson filed a criminal demurrer -- see
California demurrer info | the facts stated do not constitute a public
offense -- with the Los Angeles County District Attorney that asserted
that the initial stop and arrest was improper and was made with no
probable cause or reasonable
suspicion under the California Criminal Code -- the initial stop not
was made under the California Vehicle Code. In 1993, only the vehicle code
required a citizen to present identification to a law enforcement officer
in California. Ten years earlier in 1983 Lawson had previously won
that point in the U.S. Supreme Court. In support of his demurrer he sited
his own case: Kolendar vs. Lawson. In anticipation
of having more California laws declared unconstitutional, the Los Angeles
County District Attorney's Office did not respond to the demure and wisely
backed away from further legal battles with Edward C. Lawson "in the interest
of justice."
-- JOHN LONGENECKER