[420 Girl]

NYACK - A black South Nyack family has accused two Rockland County sheriff's officers of racially profiling them when their car drove through a suspected drug-dealing area on Depew Avenue.

The Sheriff's Department is investigating the complaint, which was made Tuesday by Tracie McLee, 32, a fundraiser for Good Samaritan Hospital in Suffern.

The two officers initially pulled over the car because the driver, her nephew Randy McLee, wasn't wearing a seat belt, but suspicion of drugs became a factor, Sheriff James Kralik said yesterday.

Kralik said Officer Robert Vlastelica has a good record and no previous complaints. The other officer was Robert Garrison, who was patrolling with Vlastelica. Both officers are white.

The internal investigation will weigh McLee's complaint against the officers' belief that they acted reasonably, Kralik said.

"We take all complaints very seriously," he said. "We will interview the officers. If this officer was incorrect in what he did, we will say so."

Tracie McLee said Vlastelica overstepped his bounds, trampled her family's rights and profiled them.

"He pulled us over because we were black," McLee said, adding that she had never felt that way before. "I believe the officer also was trying to provoke us to act unruly and give him something to arrest us on. He was pushing our buttons in every sense of the word."

McLee said she, Randy McLee and her cousin Frederick Brown were driving home at noon Sunday after a family breakfast at Strawberry Place, where Tracie McLee works part time. Brown was visiting from South Carolina after recently returning from Iraq, where he served with the Army Reserve.

As they drove up Depew Avenue, Randy McLee waved and shouted to a friend standing on the street near a housing development and the fence to the Nyack Community Garden.

A sheriff's patrol car had just passed by and made a U-turn.

As McLee turned left onto Franklin Street, the patrol car flashed its lights and pulled the car over.

Tracie McLee, who was sitting in the back seat, said Vlastelica immediately began asking accusatory questions of her nephew. She said he never stated why he had stopped the car, but asked whether Randy McLee knew why.

"My nephew said, 'No,' and he said, 'If you want to play this game, we can play this game,' " she said.

The officer then took Randy McLee's and Brown's driver's licenses and returned to his patrol car. He came back in 10 minutes and began questioning Randy McLee.

"He comes back to the car and asks, 'Do you have any drugs? Do you have any drug paraphernalia or terrorist bombs in the car?' " McLee said.

After Randy McLee said, "No," Tracie McLee said, the officer asked about cigars on the console inside the car and implied some cigars were filled with marijuana.

Tracie McLee said her nephew responded, " 'Wow, am I not allowed to smoke cigars?' "

She said Vlastelica responded, saying of the cigars, " 'Well, that's drug paraphernalia, so if you have weed or any kind of drugs in here, you better tell me now."

The officer then asked each one to get out of the car and he frisked them one at a time. He then asked for permission to search the car and it was granted, Kralik said. Nothing was found in the car, police said.

Vlastelica then went back to his patrol car and returned 10 minutes later, giving Randy McLee a ticket alleging he was not wearing his seat beat. He didn't give Brown a ticket for not wearing his belt, Tracie McLee said.

The officer then gave them a hint about why he pulled them over, she said: "You guys were coming from a drug zone," referring to the area in Depew.

When Randy McLee asked the officer whether he planned to pull over every car that drove past the "drug zone," the officer responded, " 'No,' " Tracie McLee said.

Kralik said police officers make decisions on the street and that innocent people sometimes are stopped.

"I would be sorry when decent people - and that seems to be the case here - are embarrassed by law enforcement actions," Kralik said. "Our initial investigation is that the officer stopped the car on a seat-belt violation. His suspicions were (aroused) by the circumstances."

Tracie McLee said the experienced annoyed her, but all three of them kept their tempers in check.

"He frisked each one of us, from head to toe," she said. "He then searched the car high and low. This is in broad daylight on Franklin Avenue and everybody is looking at us.

"I was completely humiliated," she said. "I felt my dignity was in the gutter. He then tells us to get back in the car."

The Orangetown Police Department has prime jurisdiction for patrolling Nyack, with the South Nyack-Grand View Police Department as backup.

The Sheriff's Department has countywide jurisdiction, but normally sticks to county property for patrols unless asked for assistance by a local police department. For example, the mounted unit of the Sheriff's Department has been patrolling Nyack during the weekends late at night and into the early morning hours.

Tracie McLee said she understood there were problems with drugs and crime in the area but that it didn't mean people had to be treated the way her family was.

"My cousin just got back from Iraq, and (the officer's) asking us if we have drugs and a terrorist bomb," she said.

McLee said she made a complaint because she and her family want the officer reprimanded and forced to take diversity training.

"He chose the wrong people to mess with," she said. "We're professional. My cousin serves his country. My nephew has a degree. We're honest, hardworking people."

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