SAN DIEGO — The city of San Diego was sued in California Superior Court on Tuesday to change a San Diego Police Department policy that ACLU of San Diego & Imperial Counties said allows for DNA collection from minors without parental consent.
The incident that prompted the lawsuit involves alleged over-policing of Logan Heights, a community of color, in March 2016.
A group of teen boys were walking in a park when police unlawfully stopped and frisked them, ACLU said. The youth were then detained without a warrant and then told that they would only be released after they consented to the collection of their DNA, without parental permission.
Jamie Wilson's son were one of the teen boys stopped and she plans to 10News reporter Adam Racusin today.
"I wish I could say incidents like this are uncommon, but sadly, we know otherwise," ACLU executive director Norma Chavez-Peterson said. "The concerns raised in this case are representative of what too many San Diegans of color contend with far too often: racial bias in our policing, violations of basic principles of privacy, and law enforcement's practice of documenting black and brown youth in secret databases without parental involvement."
Voice of San Diego's Kelly Davis published a story today about how SDPD finds a way around state law limiting DNA collection from juveniles.
Sandy Coronilla is a KGTV digital producer. Follow her @10NewsSandy
