$5M civil rights lawsuit accuses KPD of racial profiling

The is from 2015

A Knoxville man arrested multiple times for drug possession - but rarely convicted - has filed a $5 million civil rights federal lawsuit against the Knoxville Police Department, its chief and five officers he says have harassed and stalked him and others under a "shadow assault on the minority community."

"This assault is perpetrated through false allegations and embellishments consisting of but not limited to: window tint, noise ordinances, tail lights; wrong turns; harsh language; furtive actions and consent to any number of constitutional violations," the complaint, filed April 4 on behalf of Brandon Allen Foxx in U.S. District Court, states.

The lawsuit says that Foxx is "only of many young black males stopped, and shaken down by KPD in the East side of Knoxville."

Foxx, 26, accused the police department and officers of:

Violating his Fourth Amendment right to be free from unreasonable seizure when arrested without a warrant and probable cause.
Violating his Eighth and Fourth Amendment rights against cruel and unusual punishment when officers urged a K-9 drug-sniffing dog to attack him when he was not using violence toward them.
Conspiring to deprive him of his constitutional rights by attempting to cover evidence of their use of excessive force.
Creating a culture of unconstitutional behavior within the department that fails to properly train, supervise and discipline it officers.

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