COLLEGE PARK — A federal judge has refused to dismiss a lawsuit that accuses two white U.S. Park Police officers of unlawfully detaining a black Secret Service agent who was waiting to accompany a Cabinet secretary’s motorcade.
U.S. District Judge Paul Grimm in Maryland ruled Monday that a jury can decide whether Gerald Ferreyra and Brian Phillips violated Nathaniel Hicks’ constitutional right to be free from an unreasonable seizure.
Hicks’ lawsuit says it appears the officers singled him out because of his race. Hicks says he did nothing during the July 2015 roadside encounter to justify being detained after the officers confirmed he was an on-duty Secret Service agent. A Park Police supervisor told Hicks he was free to go between 40 to 60 minutes after Ferreyra first detained him, according to the judge’s ruling.
