By Philip Sean Curran, Staff Writer
A traffic stop that drew national headlines and raised questions about race and Princeton Police practices ended Tuesday with a black Princeton University professor pleading guilty to two motor vehicle offenses.
Imani Perry, 43, took a plea deal in Princeton Municipal Court to resolve a Feb.6 traffic stop for speeding on Mercer Road, an incident that led to her arrest for two unpaid traffic tickets. She admitted speeding 49 mph in a 45-mph zone, a charge that allows her to avoid points on her Pennsylvania driver’s license. She is a resident of that state.
Also, she admitted violating New Jersey’s touring privileges for out-of-state motorists, namely that her license was out of order on the day she was stopped in Princeton. Her license, which had been suspended at the time, since has been restored, said municipal prosecutor Reed Gusciora.
She was fined $428, and left the courtroom declining to comment to a reporter.
“I think it was a good result for her,” Mr. Gusciora said outside the courtroom. “No one took pleasure in this case.”
Ms. Perry was accompanied in court by supporters, including Eddie S. Glaude Jr., the chairman of the African-American studies department at Princeton, the department in which Ms. Perry teaches. She sat in the main meeting room, in town hall, in the morning waiting for case to be heard among the other defendants.
Her brief court appearance was an otherwise quick ending to a case that began shortly after 9 a.m. on a Saturday as an otherwise routine traffic stop and warrant arrest but turned into a referendum on police practices.
Police alleged she was speeding, as much as 67 mph in a 45 zone, in a four-door Honda Acura. She was ticketed for speeding and driving with a suspended license; she also had a warrant for unpaid tickets, and Princeton. Police arrested her and took her to police headquarters, where she was processed and released.
Ms. Perry, a critic of law enforcement, later took to social media to complain about the way she was treated, including being handcuffed to a table when she was booked at police headquarters and patted down by a male officer when a female officer was available. Ms. Perry injected race into the issue by saying her being black was “not incidental” to the way she was treated.
The Perry case, coming at a time of heightened focus nationally on police tactics, ignited into a full-blown controversy. Supporters, including Mr. Glaude, rallied to her side, but there was no public reaction or expressions of outrage from the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People, national or local black clergy or black state or federal politicians.
Princeton Police were eager to share as much information about the matter as possible, including releasing the dash cam video of the traffic stop and allowing the media to view the video of her being booked. An internal affairs investigation by the Mercer County Prosecutor’s Office subsequently found no wrongdoing by the white male officer, Patrolman Michael Schubert, who had pulled her over. In fact, county authorities said he should be “commended, not criticized” for his conduct in the matter.
Police Chief Nicholas K. Sutter, who discussed the matter after it first happened, has not responded to requests for comment since then, including last week and again Tuesday.
Ms. Perry’s case raised concerns among Princeton municipal officials that police can arrest people for outstanding traffic tickets, although they have been well aware of such arrests given they get copies of the police information released to the press. In a joint statement Friday, Mayor Liz Lempert and five of the six council members said the matter had “raised legitimate questions about the New Jersey court system’s use of warrants.
“We hope the state will re-examine the options it gives to municipal courts to enforce financial penalties and parking violations, and we plan to be part of those conversations with our elected representatives.”
For his part, Mr. Gusciora, also a Democratic state assemblyman, said the issue should be looked into.
But Councilman Patrick Simon was the lone council member not to sign the joint statement. In a statement of his own, he explained Friday his decision.
“This was a routine traffic stop, which became a warrant arrest due to the past negligence of the individual involved, and it was subsequently blown out of proportion by that individual and others,” he wrote. “While there most definitely is a valid national debate on the use of court warrants for petty offenses, and the disproportionate impact of this practice on people of color, in my opinion, the facts of this case are sufficiently skewed that they do not constructively inform that debate, and therefore, I disagree with my colleagues’ decision to use this incident to demand a seat at the table for that discussion at the state level. Nor do I think we are entitled to any special consideration simply because this event happened here.”
As for Ms. Perry, she is on sabbatical from the university. She is scheduled to moderate a discussion about race and democracy, on Thursday, at Labyrinth Books, and has a book coming out, “Vexy Thing: a Book on Gender.”
