The Seattle chapter of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) is accusing the Seattle Police Department (SPD) and the Seattle Post-Intelligencer of racial profiling after two SPD officers, accompanied by P-I reporter Casey McNerthney, stopped and frisked a group of four black teenagers earlier this month. The NAACP says the officers targeted the group to give the P-I a good story and a photo opportunity.

The article, which ran on the front page of the P-I on February 9, featured two Seattle officers, Adley Shepherd and Jake Briskey, who are known for their work with gangs in the South End. Shepherd is black; Briskey is white.

"Shepherd and Briskey have put themselves on the front lines of Seattle's gang problem, and they see firsthand a street culture that results in a deadly cycle of violence," McNerthney wrote. "[The pair] said repeat contacts give them a sixth sense about behaviors and that mutual respect really does work with gang members."

According to statements by two of the boys who were stopped by Briskey and Shepherd, the group of teens had just left a screening of Taken at the Columbia City Cinema at around 9:30 p.m. and were waiting for a ride from one boy's grandfather.

As the group stood outside the theater, according to a statement written by one of the boys, 13, a black police cruiser pulled out of a nearby alley. Officer Shepherd rolled down his window and asked the group where they were from.

According to the boys' written statements, the group told Shepherd they were from the Central District. "You must be in a gang because you're out so late," the 13-year-old's statement says Shepherd shot back. Then, according to the boy, Shepherd asked one of the boys why he was "wearing so much gray," implying he was wearing gang colors. According to the 13-year-old's statement, Shepherd also asked one of the boys if he had a street name. When the boy said no, the statement says, Shepherd laughed and asked him, "What, you don't have any street cred?"

Officer Shepherd brought two of the boys back to the car, both statements say, and patted them down while a P-I photographer snapped photos. One of the other teens, a 16-year-old, told The Stranger that Officer Shepherd walked around the car "making superhero-looking poses." The 13-year-old's statement also says, "It seemed as though it was a photo shoot, because Officer Shepherd was posing for the camera." None of the boys was arrested.

According to the P-I article, the officers told McNerthney it was "a slow night."

"They were trying to liven up an article," says Yolanda Bell, the mother of the 16-year-old boy targeted by Shepherd and Briskey. "This officer picked four of the squarest kids."

Bell says when her son came home from the movie and told her he'd been the victim of police harassment, "I laughed and said 'go to bed.' I kind of made an excuse for the officers. It's tough times out there."

On Monday, however, Bell saw the article, which included a photo of her son, and hit the roof. "How can they come to the conclusion that my son is a gang member? I work hard to keep my son out of gangs," she says. "They were profiling my son."

Bell says she contacted the P-I about getting her son's photo removed from the website but says an editor at the paper hung up on her. Bell then contacted the NAACP for help.

In September, Seattle NAACP president James Bible held a press conference to draw attention to complaints of racial profiling by SPD officers. This incident, Bible says, is just another example.

"We would be deeply concerned if this was a photo op for law enforcement to further perpetuate the myth that African Americans are dangerous in our community," Bible says, adding that the NAACP wants to set up a meeting with editors at the paper. P-I managing editor David McCumber did not return an e-mail seeking comment. "We hope first to develop an understanding of why the picture was taken," Bible says. "An apology is, I think, a first step."

McNerthney, the article's author, says he hasn't heard from the families or the NAACP about the story: "One of the first messages I did get was from Officer Shepherd, who liked the article and said it was fair. Both [photographer Mike Kane] and I discussed the story with editors, and we will continue to pass feedback on to them."

SPD spokesman Jeff Kappel also says he has not received any complaints about the article.