Oregon’s top civil rights lawyer alleges racial profiling

EUGENE, Ore. (AP) — Oregon’s top civil rights lawyer has filed a federal lawsuit against state Attorney General Ellen Rosenblum and others in her department over allegations of racial profiling.

Erious Johnson’s lawsuit filed Wednesday in U.S. District Court in Eugene alleges an investigator at the Oregon Department of Justice created a secret profile of his social media activity after one of his tweets showed up in a surveillance dragnet of posts that included the Black Lives Matter hashtag.

Johnson, who is Rosenblum’s director of civil rights, is seeking damages and a jury trial.

He has already filed a civil rights complaint with the state over the 2015 incident.

Rosenblum’s office did not immediately answer a request for comment.

An outside investigator concluded in April that the surveillance violated state law.