Nearly a year after U.S. Rep. Danny Davis, D-7th, was ticketed for a traffic infraction in the Lawndale neighborhood, a Cook County judge found him not guilty.
Nearly a year after U.S. Rep. Danny Davis, D-7th, was ticketed for a traffic infraction in the Lawndale neighborhood, a Cook County judge found him not guilty.
Last November, while driving his black sedan home after appearing on a radio show at WVON-AM, Chicago police pulled Davis over near Douglas Boulevard and Kedzie Avenue and issued him a $75 ticket for "driving left of center."
The Chicago Defender first reported the news of the West Side congressman’s traffic stop after he alleged that he was the victim of racial profiling, or "driving while Black."
Davis told the Defender he believed he was stopped because he was in a nice vehicle and he was African American.
In court Wednesday, Chicago police Officer Laura Kuhlmann testified that she and her partner observed Davis’ car, which she said was gray, cross the center line and immediately swerve back into the lane while making a left turn onto Kedzie Avenue from 16th Street.
Kuhlmann’s partner, who actually spoke to Davis during the traffic stop, was not in court.
Judge Martin Coughlin threw the charge out, stating that when you make a left turn, you have to cross the line.
Davis, who did not testify, said he broke no laws and fought the ticket on principle.
"Do you let it go, do you just say, ‘Well, that’s the way America is?’ Well, I can’t do that, that’s not the way I’m constructed," he said.
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