This historical racial profiling case was the first to be settled after being filed at the Montana Human Rights Bureau as part of the Montana Human Rights Act. Billings police officers stopped Bonnie and Andres Castro in 1999 twice because they drove a car with the license plate “PUREMEX,” and searched their vehicle with police dogs. The stipulations of the settlement included revisions to the department’s procedures for traffic stops and deployment of canine units; a collection of data for two-years regarding the race of motorists, and a payment of $50,000 to Bonnie Castro.
Read our press release from 2001.
