GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. — Melissa Mason was driving her teenage son and two of his friends home one night in January 2020, when she was pulled over for an expired plate. While she was not arrested during the stop, she was handcuffed and placed in the back of a cruiser.
Leaving the stop with two citations, she would later file a complaint with the Michigan Civil Rights Department, alleging she was treated unfairly because of her race.
On Tuesday, an administrative law judge dismissed the case. Recently, Mason withdrew her complaint.
The Michigan Department of Civil Rights announced in July 2022 that they had been unable to find a resolution between Mason and the Grand Rapids Police Department, the agency involved. At that point, they officially filed charges of discrimination against the department.
The complaint alleged that Mason was placed in the back of a police car for an expired plate because of her race.
The state agency wrote in an application for a hearing in the case that the Grand Rapids Police Department "was unable to show similarly situated persons of another race (who) were treated similarly as Claimant (Mason)."
Mason's complaint alleged that she was placed in the back of the cruiser for "about twenty minutes."
She was not arrested during the stop, but issued a civil infraction for expired plates and a misdemeanor citation for the expired license.
The complaint alleges that one of the handling officers told Mason during the stop, "Well, since you stopped running your mouth, we'll let you go."
In videos obtained by FOX 17, the conversation is heard but is different than alleged.
"So, what's going to happen is, because you calmed down, you were cooperative, you're just going to receive a citation today," the officer says.
"You'll have ten days to take care of it."
FOX 17 communicated with a spokesperson for the Michigan Department of Civil Rights (MDCR) Tuesday, who initially said the case was still in the administrative hearing process.
Less than an hour later, a spokesperson reached back out to say that an administrative law judge had signed a motion to dismiss the case Tuesday.
MDCR Executive Director John E. Johnson Jr. released the following statement:
“There are any number of reasons a claimant may decide to withdraw a complaint. We aren’t in the business of second guessing a family’s decision about such personal and painful experiences. In each of the four cases against the Grand Rapids Police Department, our investigations found that discrimination did take place and we brought these cases to charge. Following a charge, it is our obligation to continue to work toward a resolution that brings some measure of justice to the claimant. The claimant’s decision to withdraw these complaints has no impact on our ongoing investigation of other complaints against the GRPD. If we find evidence of discrimination and the parties cannot come to a resolution, we will not hesitate to bring the complaint to charge.”
The city of Grand Rapids gave FOX 17 the following statement Tuesday evening:
"We are pleased that this matter has been resolved."
WATCH THE BODY CAMERA FROM THE JANUARY 2020 TRAFFIC STOP:
