The plaintiffs claim that they were not allowed to contact family members or a lawyer during the stop.

NEW ORLEANS — Two men say they were subjected to a racially motivated and humiliating traffic stop and search last year by deputies in southeast Louisiana. 

They make the accusations against St. Tammany Parish sheriff’s deputies in a lawsuit filed by attorneys working with the American Civil Liberties Union of Louisiana. It says deputies pulled the two Black men over in March 2021 after watching them stop for gasoline in Mandeville. The suit says the men were victims of racial profiling and that they were harassed during a 20-minute stop without being allowed to call a family member or lawyer. 

The sheriff’s office declined comment Friday.