San Francisco To Pay $225,000 To Settle Racial Bias Suit

San Francisco has agreed to pay $225,000 to settle a lawsuit brought by seven African Americans who say they were targeted because of their race in a sting operation intended to arrest dealers selling drugs near schools. The San Francisco Chronicle reported Friday that the seven individuals were arrested as part of sweeps in late 2013 and early 2014 carried out by federal law enforcement and San Francisco police. The American Civil Liberties Union of Northern California said all 37 people arrested in the city's Tenderloin neighborhood as part of “Operation Safe Schools" were African American, despite the racial and ethnic diversity of drug dealers in the neighborhood.