A Hispanic Milwaukee woman claims she was racially profiled by a Greendale Police officer and says she is filing a complaint against the officer.
"I thought the first question they were supposed to ask is for your license and for your insurance card?" said Katherine Torres.
Torres claims that wasn't the case when a Greendale police officer pulled her over for a missing front license plate on Monday.
"The first thing he asked me was are you a US citizen? Then he asked me for my Social Security (Number)," she said.
Torres said the Greendale officer jotted down her Social Security Number, something that made her feel violated.
"Of course I'm a U.S. citizen, my parents are immigrants and this made me feel really uncomfortable," she said.
Torres said she got a ticket for not wearing her seatbelt. On Friday, she and Voces De La Frontera stormed into the Greendale Police Station to file complaints of racial profiling and harassment.
"I just feel like this was very unfair," she said.
The first time Greendale police heard about the complaint was when TODAY’S TMJ4 brought it to their attention just before the news conference. They didn't want to comment at the time.
Torres said she hopes this alleged mistreatment stops.
"Why be asking if you're a citizen if it's not needed?" she questioned.
We asked to see Torres' ticket, but she did not bring it along. We also talked to a local law enforcement official who stressed that asking for citizenship status is not standard operating procedure for a traffic stop.
