The stepson of Liberian President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf and head of Liberia’s National Security Agency, Fombah Sirleaf, 47, has alleged in a federal lawsuit that state troopers racially profiled him and a friend at a New Jersey shopping mall in the United States of America.
Sirleaf claimed he was racially profiled and illegally detained by state troopers at the shopping mall according to NJ Advance Media.
The Liberian NSA head says he and a friend were cuffed by a cadre of troopers on a drug detail while they were loading suitcases into the back of a high-end luxury vehicle outside the Mills at Jersey Gardens in Elizabeth on Oct. 8, 2014.
The two are each seeking $250,000 in damages through a federal civil rights lawsuit.
“I believe we were targeted because we are black,” Liberian intelligence chief says.
The Liberian official said he and his friend had nothing in common with the suspect besides the colour of their skin.
Sirleaf, in an e-mail from Liberia narrating the incident said he was in the United States on official business, had a layover in Newark and “decided to do a little bit of shopping” before traveling to Detroit.
His friend and co-plaintiff, Stanley Summerville, drove him to the Elizabeth outlet mall, where they bought suitcases for Sirleaf to carry things he had purchased in America back to Liberia, Sirleaf said. Summerville declined to comment for this story.
They were loading the suitcases into the back of a Mercedes SUV when they saw five unmarked cars surround a black man driving a white Lexus in the parking lot some distance away, according to the complaint.
The report added that Summerville later consented to a search of his vehicle and the bags inside, which contained “voluminous amounts” of over the counter medicine but no contraband.
The two were released after mall security footage confirmed their story that they had been shopping and had no contact with the suspect. They were never charged.
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