A Black San Francisco UPS delivery driver claims she was subjected to racial profiling after being given a citation that she says was for double-parking her service truck earlier this month in a confrontation that was caught on her cellphone and has since gone viral.
The incident took place on Tuesday, Dec. 7, around 11:30 a.m. on Haight Street near Masonic, when Nakisha Ferguson doubled-parked her delivery truck to drop off several packages, KRON reported.
In the 3-minute clip, that has racked over 2 million views on TikTok, Ferguson is approached by a police officer, during which she explains to the camera that she’s “being pulled over by SFPD while I deliver my packages. I am a delivery driver in full brown delivering packages, and I get pulled over for double parking for 2 seconds while I deliver my f-cking packages.”
Ferguson said she was being pulled over “everywhere on this street” because “there is nowhere for me to park. I go up and down the Haight.” According to the station, parking is extremely difficult in that particular part of town.
Ferguson was even shocked to have gotten a citation, thinking double-parking was normal behavior. “I never knew that they pulled over people. I see UPS drivers, FedEx drivers, Amazon drivers, everybody double parking to deliver,” Ferguson added.
The woman was then approached by two more officers, whom she refused to speak to. She was then told to “not admit guilt” but sign a citation. “I’m not signing nothing,” she said. “I am at work delivering my packages.”
“I wanna see you pull over somebody else, another driver,” she said to the officers. “Since it’s a black girl, I get a ticket.” The confrontation appeared to draw attention from local bystanders.
The woman told reporters she believed she was stopped because she was Black. “I feel like if I wasn’t this young black girl, I wouldn’t have got a ticket. I probably would have got a warning. A siren to move your vehicle,” she explained.
Haight District San Francisco Supervisor Dean Preston’s office told the station that they were “extremely concerned about the incident in which SFPD ticketed a Black ups driver in the Haight for double parking while making a delivery. We have reached out to SFPD and are eager to get to the bottom of this.”
Meanwhile, the San Francisco Police Department released a statement to the outlet revealing that “This incident is now under investigation by the SF Department of Public Accountability. Because this is an open investigation, we cannot comment further.”
A new city ordinance protecting delivery drivers from being cited while double-parked in the city reportedly may be in order soon.
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