Man Involved in Deadly Shootout with Police Alleges Racial Profiling

Earl Sipp survived a shootout with New Orleans police after a traffic stop in March but his brother Justin Sipp was killed in the unfortunate incident. Sipp accused the officer who pulled him over of racial profiling, arguing that the ticket he got for driving with a suspended license should be thrown out.

Sipp contends that officer Jason Giroir had no probable cause to stop him. In a written brief, his attorney, Danny Abel,says,

“Giroir stopped the Sipp brothers as part of his continuing practice of racially profiling young African-American men.”

During the traffic stop, the late Justin Sipp is reported to have opened fire on the police officers who had responded to a call for backup. Officers Anthony Mayfield Jr. and Michael Asevedo were wounded and Justin Sipp was shot to death. His surviving brother Jason Sipp, suffered a gun shot would to the leg.

Police claim that Earl Sipp was pulled over because his license plate was not visible due to poor illumination but he did not receive a ticket for that violation.

Abel’s brief goes on to say,

“In fact, he was not charged with any violation arising from his driving or equipment failure on his car. He was only charged with having a suspended driver’s license.”

To support their case of racial profiling, Abel talked about a 2006 case in which Giroir was accused of racial profiling and faced federal charges of physical and verbal abuse. The case was settled out of court.

Less than a month after the shootout with the Sipp brothers, Giroir handed in his resignation from the police force. The resignation is reported to have been related to offensive posts he made, online, about a black Florida teenager who was killed by a neighborhood watch volunteer.  Giroir wrote, “Act like a Thug Die like one!” He was responding to the controversial case in which Trayvon Martin was shot and killed by George Zimmerman.

Judge Herbert Cade who was presiding over the traffic court case gave the city until Dec. 5 to respond to the accusations of racial profiling.