Bomani Tyehimba's complaint does not fit the description of racial profiling.

        In 1999, Mr. Tyehimba was pulled over by two Cincinnati cops. He said they drew guns on him, put him in handcuffs and treated him like a drug dealer. He sued the city for racial profiling.

        But a report by the city's Office of Municipal Investigations tells the rest of the story: Mr. Tyehimba swerved to pass a slower car, crossed the yellow line and used no turn signal. When police tried to stop him, he ignored their lights and siren. When he finally pulled over, he alarmed them by jumping out of his windowless van. He had no license, no picture I.D., and had a $1,000 wad of bills in his pocket.

        They cuffed him and checked him out. They found out he was only picking up his son, and explained it was a misunderstanding. The cops were cited for overreacting. But it's a lame example of racial profiling. Mr. Tyehimba was stopped and treated like a criminal because he violated traffic laws, then scared the cops.

        Why do we care now?

        Because Cincinnati cops and taxpayers are about to find out what it's like to get “mediated.” Mr. Tyehimba's flimsy case is the basis of a class-action lawsuit against the city by the ACLU and the Black United Front.

Hidden deals

        A few council members warned that the profiling case was a dog. They wanted to take it to court. But they were scorned as obstructionists. Cincinnati was still sweeping up broken glass from the riots, and most on council couldn't wait to appease protesters with touchy-feely “mediation.”

        Federal Judge Susan Dlott ordered group therapy sessions “facilitated” by the Aria Group of Yellow Springs, Ohio. Citizens, activists, cops, rioters and other “stakeholders” were invited to visit and vent.

        That was the public part.

        But all the important details have been worked out behind the scenes by the plaintiffs (ACLU and the Black United Front), the Fraternal Order of Police and the city.

        “These three parties have shut out everyone else,” said Councilman Pat DeWine, a lawyer who voted against mediation “because the case did not meet the requirements of federal rules for a class action.”

Lawyer jackpot

        If approved by council, the final deal could handcuff police, dictate public policy, create a new sedimentary layer of bureaucracy and cost taxpayers a Super Lotto jackpot in legal fees.

        The lawyers who filed the lawsuit, Ken Lawson, Alphonse Gerhardstein and Scott Greenwood, can still sue the city for alleged cases of racial profiling. And they could collect large fees without even trying to prove their case.

        The Black United Front has been allowed by Judge Dlott to negotiate in bad faith, while pushing a damaging boycott of the city.

        The Aria Group is using Cincinnati as a “test drive” to win national attention and lucrative contracts.

        And here's what the city got: Zippo. No end to boycott headaches. No relief from lawsuits. No slack from protesters.

        “The city is not getting anything,” Mr. DeWine said. “I feel vindicated.”

        I feel ripped off.

        E-mail pbronson@enquirer.com or call 768-8301.
       

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