Standing on the side of a road in pajamas and Ugg boots, with two state troopers sizing him up, business executive Dakarai Larriett struggled to speak after learning he was being arrested on suspicion of drunken driving.
“Honestly, I’m just floored,” Larriett told the troopers before getting handcuffed and taken to a hospital for a blood draw.
The procedure would ultimately vindicate him.
Larriett had no alcohol or drugs in his system, which he kept telling the troopers on the side of the Benton Harbor road that night. But they didn’t believe him. Instead, he says, they subjected him to a night of humiliation filled with racial and homophobic slurs, jailed him for six hours, subjected him to seven sobriety tests in a dark cold alley, and accused him of trying to smuggle drugs in his body during booking, when X-rays showed the suspicious “anomaly” in his stomach was only gas.
Perhaps most degrading, Larriett recalled, was a trooper instructing him to poop in front of him on a toilet in the booking station that was visible to the public, allegedly yelling to him: “Don’t flush!”
Traffic stop leads to lawsuit: ‘I was so humiliated’
“I was so nervous. I was so humiliated,” Larriett recalled of the bathroom experience. “I’d never seen anything like this before. … This was dehumanizing.”
Six months later, 41-year-old Larriett is still reeling. And he’s not letting it go.
In a racial profiling lawsuit filed in U.S. District Court, Larriett, who is Black, gay and a former executive at Whirlpool, is suing the Michigan State Police and two state troopers alleging unlawful detention, false charges and “long-lasting” harm stemming from an April 10 traffic stop in Benton Harbor. His lawsuit is seeking $10 million. Among his allegations: the troopers mocked his name by calling him “daiquiri,” made homophobic remarks about him smelling “fruity,” fixated on his Cadillac SUV — “implying it didn’t belong to me,” he said — and putting him through multiple sobriety tests that he argues were excessive and unwarranted.
Larriett was charged with operating under the influence, though the charges were dropped within days due to lack of evidence.
Larriett also alleges the troopers tried to plant drugs in his car that night — an allegation he maintains is supported through police video he obtained through the Freedom of Information Act. The MSP denies the allegation and says the video does not show what Larriett purports it to show.
The MSP, however, says it is still investigating this additional allegation by Larriett: One of the accused troopers has openly insulted gays, Blacks and transgender individuals on social media and makes sexist posts degrading women. Larriett’s lawsuit includes several of the trooper’s controversial social media posts, including a retweet that shows a photo of a white man posing with a Black woman in a hot pink dress that reads: “Met the biggest beauty of a crackhead last night.”
The night in question: ‘I can smell … something fruity’
According to police video obtained by the Free Press, court records and an interview with Larriett, here is what happened on the night Larriett got pulled over while driving a friend home in Benton Harbor.
It was about 3 a.m. when Larriett saw the flashing lights behind him. He was in his white Cadillac SUV and had just pulled up in front of his friend’s house when two state troopers pulled him over. One trooper was white, the other trooper was Black.
As the cruiser pulled behind the Cadillac, one of the troopers can be heard saying inside the car: “Daquiri? Daquiri? You been drinking daquiris? My goodness.” Larriett believes they had run his plate and were making fun of his first name: Dakarai.
The white trooper approached the Cadillac: “Hey, how you doing,” he said to Larriett before explaining the reason for the stop: He told Larriett that he had failed to make complete stops at two blinking red lights.”It’s a nice car, how’s it driving?” the trooper continued as he asked for identification and insurance. “How long have you owned it.”
“Three years,” Larriett answered.
The trooper then asked: “Has alcohol impacted your ability to drive today? … Smelling fruity and a little bit something else on you. I can smell it on your breath, something fruity.”
7 field sobriety tests, then a question about pot
Larriett said he had not been drinking. The trooper asked if he took medication, but Larriett said he preferred to keep that private.
“What’s your highest level of education,” the trooper asked him.
When Larriett told him he had a master’s degree, the trooper said: “I could tell with the Cadillac.”
Then came the field sobriety tests, seven in total. They took about a half hour and included the following tasks: follow the trooper’s finger with your eyes; walk nine steps heel to toe; count backwards from 99-81; lift up one leg, look at your raised foot, and count until the trooper tells you to stop (Larriett counted to 24); tilt your head back and hold it for 30 seconds.
Larriett was compliant, calm, never slurred his speech or wobbled, and believed he passed all the tests, repeatedly stating: “I have not had alcohol.”
The trooper wasn’t convinced and asked: “What about marijuana?”
Larriett said he did not smoke pot. The trooper went back to his cruiser and asked Larriett to wait at his car.
Trooper searches police cruiser, draws suspicion
According to dash cam video, the trooper went back to his cruiser and searched for something for more than three minutes, digging through the trunk and various compartments. Larriett alleges he was looking for drugs to place in Larriett’s vehicle based on what he heard and saw on the video, while the Michigan State Police say he was looking for straws.
Here is what is heard on the video:
At one point, you hear a male voice say something that sounds like “straws,” though Larriett says it sounds like “drugs.” Then you hear another voice say: “I don’t think I have any … yeah, you know I had a stash in here somewhere. I don’t know where it’s at.”
In a statement to the Free Press, the MSP defended the troopers, saying: “At no time did MSP troopers attempt to plant narcotics on Mr. Larriett or in his vehicle. The term “stash” referred to the trooper’s inability to locate his supply of Preliminary Breath Test (PBT) straws, which are required for administering a PBT.”
Larriett did not get a Breathalyzer at the scene and alleges the video has been doctored.
MSP defends traffic stop
The MSP has not yet filed a response to the lawsuit, which was filed Oct. 1 in federal court. But in a statement to the Free Press Tuesday, the MSP defended the traffic stop, saying it initiated an internal affairs investigation after learning of the allegations in Larriett’s lawsuit.
“As it pertains to the traffic stop, the investigation concluded the stop was conducted in accordance with department policy and legal standards. We want to assure the community that this matter will continue to be handled professionally and with the utmost integrity.”
It also said: “The Michigan State Police is committed to unbiased policing and the fair treatment of all individuals. We take any allegations of misconduct with the utmost seriousness.”
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As for allegations that one of the defendant troopers posted homophobic, racist and sexist materials on social media, the MSP said: “Sexist, racist and homophobic remarks are not in line with the values of the Michigan State Police. The allegation about these personal social media posts is part of the internal affairs investigation, which is still underway.”
‘I believe you’re a good dude’
Before arresting Larriett, the troopers discussed the situation privately.
“I don’t know what he’s on. … I’m going to assume weed and alcohol” one of the troopers is heard saying. One also opined: “I think he’s got a medication he’s not telling us about.”
The traffic stop ended with the troopers telling Larriett that they believed he was not fit to drive that night.
Larriett protested: “To be clear, I have not been drinking … and I did stop at both of those lights.”
But the troopers weren’t convinced. They arrested him and explained that he would go to the hospital for blood tests. Afterward, depending on what the tests showed, he would spend time in a detox unit until whatever is in him gets flushed out, Larriett was told.
“I believe you’re a good dude,” one of the troopers is heard telling Larriett, adding: “I don’t want to tow your car, it’s a nice ride.”
‘I don’t want you to feel that you’ve been mistreated’
The Black trooper said very little that night, though he tried to maintain the peace with Larriett, at one point telling him: “I know right now you feel fine … you’re a smart, intelligent guy.” But then he talked about marijuana, alcohol and medications, and how mixing all three can affect a person’s motor skills.
“You’ve been nothing but compliant with us,” the Black trooper continued. “I don’t want you to feel that you’ve been mistreated by my partner in any way … if you do feel that you’ve been mistreated, I’ll give you my business card. We care about your safety in the end.”
Larriett was visibly frustrated, saying: “I do feel harassed. There was no violation. I’m fully capable of driving my car.”The troopers disagreed.
“If you feel like we’ve harassed you, you can call our bosses,” the white trooper said, later noting: “You’re not really liking me, and that’s fine.”
They ‘accused me of doing drugs’
Once at the hospital, Larriett said he passed the alcohol test, though the police still decided to jail him, concluding the drug test would take weeks to come back.
“I was humiliated in that jail,” Larriett said, noting that at one point during booking, they identified “an anomaly” in his stomach and accused him of smuggling drugs, “despite clear evidence from an X-ray machine that what they thought were drugs was simply gas.”
Then there’s the “I smell something fruity” comment that gnaws at him.
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“Looking back, I asked my friend, ‘What bothered you the most?'” Larriett said, noting his friend who was with him in the car that night cited the “fruity comments.”
“No gay man wants to ever be called that,” he said, still protesting: “And I had zero alcohol in my system.”
It took five months for Larriett to receive the results of his drug tests, which came back negative. A few weeks after getting those tests, he received the dash cam video. The next month, he filed his lawsuit.
“This case is about more than just one individual. It’s about holding the Michigan State Police accountable for their actions and sending a clear message that racial discrimination and homophobia have no place in our society,” civil rights attorney Shawndrica Simmons, who is representing Larriett, said in a statement.
“As a former cop lawyer, this case is a chilling example of the kind of systemic racial and homophobic profiling that continues to plague law enforcement both internally and externally. Mr. Larriett’s life was turned upside down simply because of his identity.”
‘This is bigger than me’
Larriett believes far too many other people go through similar experiences, only they can’t afford to do what he did: He paid $600 for a FOIA request and then hired a lawyer to file his lawsuit. He said justice should not be available only to those who can afford it, especially those being targeted by law enforcement.
“They are entrapping people who don’t have the means to protect themselves through our legal system,” he said. “This is bigger than me. … I’m fighting for people who can’t fight for themselves … for people who don’t have the money to lawyer up.”
At the time of his arrest, Larriett was a resident of St. Joseph, where he had lived for four years while working as a supply chain executive for Whirlpool. He is currently doing similar work for a health care technology company and lives in Alabama.
“I lived in St. Joseph for four years,” he said. ” I never got stopped on that side of the tracks — never.”
But then he ran into Troopers Matthew Okaiye and George Kanyuh, the men who pulled him over in the middle of the night because, his lawsuit alleges, he “was a Black driver in an expensive car with another Black man.”
“They both need to be terminated, immediately,” Larriett said. “And that’s what I’m asking for.”
Both are still working for the Michigan State Police.
(This story was updated to fix an inaccuracy.)
Contact Tresa Baldas: tbaldas@freepress.com
