Family accuses NPPD of racial profiling

The Koko and Sam Tarr family of New Prague told New Prague City Council they had concerns their son was racially profiled and was being harassed by a member of the New Prague Police Department. The family said they are originally from Liberia and have been living in New Prague for four years. The family delivered its claim at the council’s March 18, meeting.

In a letter they sent to New Prague Police Chief Tim Applen and Mayor Duane Jirik, they listed Jan. 23 and March 16 as dates the incidents took place with the same patrol officer. On Jan. 23, the officer followed the Tarr’s son, Saymanii, into the driveway of their home. The officer “told my son, and later told me, that someone informed him that my son was driving erratically on Highway 21 and that my son did not make a full stop at a traffic sign,” the couple wrote in the letter.

(For the complete story, see the April 11 print edition of The New Prague Times.)