A citizen filed a complaint against an officer alleging harassment and intimidation directed at her and her daughter. The complainant was driving with her four-year-old daughter on West Virginia Avenue, N.E., and was pulled over by an officer for traveling 40 miles per hour in a 25 m.p.h. zone. Soon after she was pulled over, four additional squad cars arrived. The complainant felt overwhelmed and intimidated by all of the officers and thought it was excessive for a speeding violation. The officer told the complainant that she had been speeding and that her car windows were illegally tinted. The complainant was unaware of tint laws in the District and tried to explain to the officer that she had recently purchased the car from the dealer directly from the manufacturer and had not altered the windows in any way. The officer appeared to be more concerned about the illegal tint than the speeding violation.

When the parties entered the mediation room, they were both agitated and defensive. As the complainant related what had happened to her, she accused the officer of harassment, racial profiling, intimidation, and rude behavior and language. She felt that having so many officers at the scene threatened her and her daughter when it was obvious that a single mother driving with a four-year-old was not a threat to anyone’s safety. She thought the officer was rude and offensive because he kept insisting she had added illegal tint to her windows.

The officer had little patience with the complainant and was adamant that all drivers should know all District regulations including those covering illegal tint. He stated that had the complainant not had such a bad attitude during their interaction, he would only have given her a speeding ticket and not fined her for the illegal tint. He also explained that safety was a huge concern for officers, especially in the neighborhood of the stop, and that when cars have illegally tinted windows, it is impossible to see who is in the vehicle and impossible to determine whether any of the passengers are armed.

The mediator asked about the safety issues concerning tinted windows and the officer mentioned that another officer had recently been shot and killed through a tinted back window when he was unable to see that the passenger had a gun. He stated that since then officers have been on high alert when dealing with vehicles with tinted windows. The complainant was surprised to hear that tinted windows were such a concern but she was also still frustrated that the officer felt she had deliberately added extra tint to her windows

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