Minnesota State Representative Alleges Racial Profiling During Traffic Stop

ST. PAUL, Minn. (AP) — An outspoken Minnesota lawmaker who was ticketed for a driver’s license violation is alleging he was racially profiled.

The citation said state Rep. John Thompson, a Democrat from St. Paul who is Black, presented a Wisconsin driver’s license during a traffic stop in St. Paul over the weekend, the St. Paul Pioneer Press reported.

His driving privileges in Minnesota were revoked because of a child support issue, said Doug Neville, a Department of Public Safety spokesman. They were reinstated Wednesday “after taking care of the child support issue,” he said.

While Thompson has never held a Minnesota license, according to the agency, the state can still revoke driving privileges.

Thompson, who has said he’s lived in the capital city for more than 18 years, told the newspaper Thursday he had kept his Wisconsin driver’s license and had not switched it over to a Minnesota one. Minnesota law requires drivers to apply for a Minnesota license within 60 days of becoming a resident.

Police denied that Thompson was racially profiled. Spokesman Steve Linders said Thompson was stopped Sunday because he did not have a front license plate. He said Thomson was not cited for that, nor for having a license from another state, but for driving after suspension.

Thompson said he had “no idea” beforehand that his privileges had been suspended.

Thompson disclosed that he had been pulled over during a memorial Tuesday for Philando Castile, who was Thompson’s friend and was killed by a police officer in 2016.

“I’m still being profiled,” Thompson said in remarks shared on social media. “Matter of fact, I was just pulled over Saturday. The old pretextual stop. ‘You don’t have a front license plate.’ And I got a ticket, for my license. Anyway, I thought we weren’t doing pretextual stops here in the state. But we are. You can still get driving-while-Black tickets in the state.”

Thompson belongs to the Legislature’s People of Color and Indigenous Caucus, which is pushing for changes to policing laws, including an end to stops for minor infractions that activists say are often used to racially profile Black drivers.