‘Bias’ stirs it up
Marley kin: Cops must pay for Airbnb profiling
THEY DON’T need no more trouble.
Bob Marley’s granddaughter and her friends want to meet with officials from the Southern California police department that detained them after a neighbor called 911 as they were leaving an Airbnb rental last month.
“We want more than an apology, we want change,” filmmaker Donisha Prendergast told the Daily News on Thursday.
“The neighbor was wrong for racial profiling, and the police were wrong for responding with the protocol they used. Isn’t it innocent until proven guilty? That’s not how things proceeded.”
Prendergast, 33, and her two friends, Kelly Fyffe Marshall and Komi-Oluwa Olafimihan, all of whom are black, said they were leaving the Airbnb rental in Rialto on April 30 when a white neighbor called 911 and told cops that the place was being robbed.Prendergast, whose mother is the eldest daughter of the iconic reggae singer, said the situation could have ended much worse.
“Just because we’re alive to tell the story doesn’t mean that everything is all right,” Prendergast said. “Individuals have to be held accountable. And we want a review so the police do not perpetuate an individual’s racism with their policies.”
Airbnb host Marie Rodriguez said her neighbor called police because she didn’t know the home had been rented.
“They’re latching on to this whole racism thing, because they’re black,” Rodriguez told CBS Los Angeles. “This is a diverse neighborhood.”
Prendergast’s attorney, Benjamin Crump, said the white woman who made the 911 call specifically reported that three black people appeared to be burglarizing her neighbor’s house because they were loading suitcases into a car and did not smile or wave at her when she allegedly waved at themHe also faulted the cops for accusing Prendergast and her friends of fabricating their online Airbnb confirmation and having someone pose as their host on the phone.
Rialto Police Chief Mark Kling said his department was unfairly accused of racial bias over the 22-minute encounter. He said the group of friends was never cuffed or seated on the curb.
“I am confident that our officers that were involved in this situation handled the call for service with dignity, respect and the utmost professionalism,” Kling said.