Supreme Judicial Court rules black men may have a right to ignore police orders.

In a unanimous ruling written by Justice Geraldine Hines, the court finds, “black males in Boston are disproportionately and repeatedly targeted for FIO [Field Interrogation and Observation by Boston Police] encounters [which] suggests a reason for flight totally unrelated to consciousness of guilt. Such an individual, when approached by the police, might just as easily be motivated by the desire to avoid the recurring indignity of being racially profiled as by the desire to hide criminal activity.” The case resulted from a Roxbury break-in after which police confiscated an illegal handgun from a man who fled rather than stop and answer questions from police on December 18, 2011.