SAN FRANCISCO, Aug. 9 (UPI) -- Subsidized tenants in a California suburb have filed a class-action federal lawsuit accusing police of harassing them.
Blacks living in Section 8 housing in Antioch, in Contra Costa County east of San Francisco, say they are stopped and questioned without cause and have been subjected to warrantless searches of their homes, The New York Times reports. Karen Coleman described a visit by police last year after a neighbor made a complaint about her husband.
"I cracked the door open, but they pushed me out of the way," she said.
Antioch, which grew fast in the decade after 1995, now has one of the highest foreclosure rates in California. Owners unable to sell have sought out Section 8 tenants, and the town's population grew to 20 percent black from 3 percent in 1990.
While crime dropped in Antioch in the first three months of 2008, violent crime rose 16 percent. But plaintiffs say that does not justify police profiling of black residents.
"Instead of driving while black, it's renting while black," said Brad Seligman, a lawyer with the Impact Fund, one of the agencies representing tenants in the lawsuit.
