Former Kansas State player Steve Clark alleges that police racially profiled him at a recent K-State home game.
Clark, who played defensive end for the Wildcats from 1977-1980, filed a complaint with Kansas Attorney General Derek Schmidt's office detailing the allegations.
According to Clark, who is African American, he and a large group of family and friends were at the Nov. 1 game against Oklahoma State to watch Clark’s son, Trace, a defensive end for Oklahoma State. While Clark waited for his wife and daughter in a stadium concourse about 20 minutes after the game, an officer approached him and asked for identification. As Clark inquired why he needed it, two other officers approached.
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The first officer explained that officers were investigating a string of pickpocket robberies in the area, and Clark matched a description of a suspect. Clark told the Kansas City Star that at that point, two other officers approached and identified Clark as a former player there to see his son play for Oklahoma State.
"At this point, I started to tell one of the guys that had just walked up that (the first officer) thought I was a suspect in a burglary," Clark said, "and (the first officer) cut me off and goes, 'I never said you were a suspect,' and they walked off with the other officers."
After complaining to a Kansas State campus police official about the incident, Clark says the official told him the officers acted appropriately.
"He was approached by officers and he says that he was racially profiled, but we've looked at it, and the officers were very professional in their conduct with him, and we don't feel he was racially profiled," Campus Police Chief Ronnie Grice told the Star. "Mr. Clark felt he was singled out, but we were looking for people of interest in burglaries that had occurred in two previous night games.
"Mr. Clark stopped in a particular area we had surveillance on and matched the description. If he had produced his ID, he'd have been on his way."
Clark is convinced he was unfairly profiled.
"What I'm hoping comes from this is that it doesn't happen to someone else," Clark said. "It's not that it just shouldn't happen there, it's that it shouldn't happen anywhere."