Keith Puckett said he was heading to the gym to help his son prepare for the basketball trials at El Segundo High School when a policeman flipped and stopped him.
Puckett, 47, a senior security program manager at Microsoft, is driving a weathered pickup truck he borrowed from a friend, according to a civil rights complaint he filed in the Los Angeles County Superior Court last August.
According to the complaint, the official claimed the truck's rear license plate light was out. Puckett insisted that he pointed out whether all the lights worked before they were on the road. He said that included a photo in the court documents, which was taken on the stop date, showed the rear of the vehicle with a license plate and a frame that read “I would rather fish.”
His complaint said the real reason for his blocking was that the officer “sees a person of color in the car.”
It is not the first time Black's Puckett has accused him of having a racial image in El Segundo.
Pukit said in court documents that he contacted police and local officials to “see if there could be an agreement on policy changes that improve the treatment of black people in El Segundo”, but the differences led to ongoing litigation.
The city denied misconduct in court documents and made Puket’s request.
“The City of El Segundo is committed to treating everyone fairly regardless of their race, nationality, sexual orientation, sexual identity or so-called criminal activity,” a statement released last August said. “Our Police Chief is committed to upholding our high standards and we do not tolerate any kind of prejudice or discrimination.”
But in April, the judge refused to ask for the complaint to be removed, allowing the case to move forward.
“It's obvious that without court proceedings, changes wouldn't happen.”
Lawyers say the reshaping of the federal Justice Department under President Trump has made lawsuits such as Pukit one of the final defenses against alleged civil rights violations.
Under the new leadership of Trump and Assistant Artie. About 70% of General Harmeet Dhillon in the Ministry of Justice’s civil rights division have been dissolved. The rest has released a new set of priorities.
The government plans to use the department as a law enforcement department for state and local officials, university administrators and student protesters, rather than protecting the constitutional rights of minorities and marginalized persons. Dhillon said her office has spread “awakening ideology.”
The department plans to refocus its efforts on voter fraud and limit the rights of trans people. This week, the Justice Department also announced that it would no longer enforce consent ordinances against police departments in Minneapolis and Louisville, Kentucky, ending federal oversight, attributed to the 2020 killings of George Floyd and Breena Taylor.
The Justice Department generally enforces laws that prohibit discrimination, prosecuting police misconduct, and investigates violations that are struggling in certain institutions.
But even under the federal enforcement, the police department may slowly embrace change. National data show that race genealogical analysis is still widespread, with black and Latino people still being stopped by police, with prices disproportionate to the percentage of California’s population.
“The Justice Department is only involved in the worst case, without its oversight, systemic abuse is more likely to rampant in our country’s law enforcement agencies,” said James Disimone, an attorney specializing in civil rights law.
Puket's claim to El Segundo is a few demands made in recent years against the municipality of La County.
The Beverly Hills Police Department has prosecuted several times, including several Black LAPD police officers who claim they have no reason to be removed from office.
The officials were included in a $500 million class action lawsuit against Beverly Hills, as well as more than 1,000 blacks who claimed they were unfair, handcuffed and arrested. Attorneys Brad Gage and Ben Crump filed the lawsuit in 2021 and followed by another lawsuit last year, with the department’s racial profile not weakening.
“Beverly Hills continues to strongly defend the case. The role of the Beverly Hills Police Department is to enforce the law regardless of race,” Deputy City Manager Keith Sterling wrote in a statement.
Gage said that in his 40 years of practice, this era was “the worst of all” [he’s] Have you seen it in discrimination litigation?
Gage did not foresee his case would be affected by federal civil rights changes, but he was concerned about what would happen to alleged “repeated offenders” such as Beverly Hills under the rebuilt Department of Justice's civil rights division.
“We definitely want to see them have a consent order. I don't know if that's possible,” Gage said. “For lawyers, trying to do things through the court will be more.”
Gage said cuts under the Trump administration are expected to delay any cases involving the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission because of staffing issues, because “there are not enough people to handle the documents.”
Will Reed, another Los Angeles attorney who deals with employment laws and workplace discrimination, said Trump’s executive order “eliminates the use of different responsibilities for influence” could also have significant consequences.
Different influence laws work when bias may be subtle or even not intended. The purpose is to hold employers, housing providers and others responsible for the practice of harming vulnerable groups.
“If I lose the ability to use different influences, that will take away the tools we use to work hard and work to make society a more equitable place,” Reed said.
At the state level, a spokesman for the California Department of Civil Rights said the agency was monitoring federal operations, but its focus “still remains the same: safeguarding civil rights for all Californians.”
Atti. General Rob Bonta said he will continue to investigate law enforcement agencies’ compliance with civil rights laws and will continue to support the Race and Identity Advisory Committee. The board was established in 2015 and requires law enforcement agencies to collect and report demographic data to eliminate discrimination.
“California has not backed down. My office will continue to investigate and enforce state and federal civil rights laws vigorously,” Bonta said in a statement to the Times. “California has always prioritized this work and we will continue to do so.”
But without additional oversight from federal authorities, the state can only do a lot.
Jin Hee Lee, director of strategic initiatives at the Legal Defense Fund, is not only concerned about the surge in private law firms and nonprofits like her, but also about the cuts in budget cuts that scarce resources to fight long-term court battles.
Even though the civil rights sector is shrinking, she still has not lost confidence in local government entities.
“People shouldn't feel powerless,” Lee said. “They still have the ability to put pressure on elected local officials to make sure the type of public safety they receive is what they want.”
In a statement released last August, El Segundo officials said in response to Puckett's lawsuit, they took his claims seriously and hired external companies to conduct independent investigations. Puket proposed twelve policy changes, but the city found that “has largely met one of his requirements.”
“The only problem with Mr. Puckett's real disagreement with the city is that he demands that certain violations of certain vehicles be deprived of them to be dismissed,” El Segundo's statement said.
Puckett said in the lawsuit that he “plans to continue living in El Segundo, a city he has been calling for for many years.” He claimed that despite his efforts to bring about change, police continued to follow him and he lived in fear of future encounters.
Puckett called the case “his ultimate effort to defend his constitutional rights, hold the city responsible for its illegal acts and force it to stop racial discrimination against black people.”
