21-03-2025
Judge splits decision on race bias claims at Boston Marathon
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Newton's mayor said the ruling was encouraging, while the lawyers for the running group deemed it 'a crucial step toward justice.' Boston Athletic Association officials said they had not had ample time to evaluate the decision.
TrailblazHers Run Co. and three of its founding members filed the civil suit in US District Court in Boston just days before the 2024 marathon.
According to an 18-page complaint, the running group's members claimed they
were
'While white spectators viewed and enjoyed the event in peace, the people of color were racially profiled and discriminated against,' the lawsuit said. 'For individual members, police profiling and scrutiny turns what should be a day of joy and festivity into one of pain, humiliation and trauma.'
The TrailblazHers set up a cheering section at mile 21 in Newton with more than 100 spectators, mostly people of color. They gathered with food, music, and
signs like 'hundreds of other groups' along the 26-mile course, according to the group's lawyers.
Newton Police have said that officers responded to the area where the TrailblazHers were gathered
three times at the request of marathon organizers to keep spectators from obstructing runners.
Judge Talwani on Thursday granted defense requests to dismiss civil conspiracy claims, as well as a request by Newton and its former police chief to dismiss an equal protection claim, online court records show.
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A copy of the judge's written ruling was not available online Thursday. Instead, a summary of her ruling, partially granting and partially denying motions to dismiss filed by defense lawyers last June, was noted on the court's online docket.
In their motion, the city's lawyers argued, 'it is a bridge too far to assume merely because the police were called on the plaintiffs' during the 2023 Marathon, the municipal defendants earlier formulated and joined a plan to infringe upon their civil rights.'
In the four years prior to 2023, the TrailblazHers had set up a cheer zone at mile 21 in Newton without incident, the defense motion said.
The events alleged at the 2023 marathon are 'at most, an isolated event in response to the Boston Athletic Association's complaints that day and not part of a custom, policy, or practice,' the motion continued.
In the same ruling, Judge Talwani refused a defense request to dismiss a claim predicated on a state public accommodations law.
The running group's attorneys at Lawyers for Civil Rights deemed the ruling 'a major victory,' saying it 'reaffirmed that spaces where people gather to celebrate and support runners must remain free from racial discrimination,' in a statement issued Thursday.
The ruling is 'a crucial step toward justice for TrailblazHers and all those who were targeted simply for showing up in support of their community,' the statement said.
Boston Athletic Association President and CEO Jack Fleming in an email Thursday said, 'We are continuing to evaluate the court's ruling from earlier today, and I'm not in a position to provide a further comment at this time.'
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Newton Mayor Ruthanne Fuller said Talwani's ruling was encouraging.
'We are encouraged by the US District Court's decision to dismiss federal claims against the City of Newton and our former Chief of Police,' Fuller said in an email. 'On the remaining claim, we are confident that the City and our Police Department acted respectfully and appropriately during the 2023 Boston Marathon.'
This year's marathon is scheduled for April 21.
Tonya Alanez can be reached at
