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A year after an alleged incident of racial discrimination at the Boston Marathon, a Black-led running group says that the BAA and local police have not enacted any meaningful changes for 2024.

On the eve of the 2024 Boston Marathon, The Boston Athletic Association and the Newton Police Department are facing a new lawsuit containing allegations of racial profiling at last year’s race.

The lawsuit is the latest entry in a saga that began when police responded to a cheering section at Mile 21 in Newton. Many of the spectators there were people of color, belonging to two prominent running groups. 

Police were called to the scene at the behest of the BAA three separate times, Westwood Police Chief Jeffrey Silva, head of the Metropolitan Law Enforcement Council, told Boston.com recently. They were responding to reports of spectators going past boundaries and onto the course, he said.

The incident resulted in no arrests or physical altercations between police and spectators, Silva said. An internal review found that the officers acted properly, he added.

But some witnesses described the response as over-the-top examples of racial profiling and over-policing. Those allegations are reflected in the latest lawsuit, filed in U.S. District Court on Thursday by Boston-based nonprofit Lawyers for Civil Rights on behalf of TrailblazHers Run Co.

“I am deeply disappointed by the lack of attention that the BAA has given to our cause. Over the years we have worked tirelessly to make running more accessible to BIPOC runners in Boston, and we expected the BAA to be a partner in this endeavor. However, their actions have not lived up to their words,” Liz Rock, a co-founder of TrailblazHers, said in a recent statement.

“They claim to want to elevate diverse leaders in the sport, but they have consistently fallen short of this goal,” Rock wrote. “Nevertheless, we are a determined group committed to making a fundamental change in this community. We will continue to push forward and work towards our mission despite the obstacles that we have faced.”

Tensions escalated in the early afternoon when a spectator launched a confetti cannon as a runner they knew passed the “cheer zone.” A Newton Police officer allegedly grabbed the spectator’s shirt, demanded identification, and threatened to arrest them for illegally running the race, according to the complaint. 

Newton Police continued to yell at and instruct the spectators of color to move back, while ignoring white spectators in nearby areas who were engaging in similar behavior, according to the complaint. It is not uncommon for spectators to briefly enter onto the course “in moments of excitement,” according to the complaint. 

Police briefly left after someone associated with the plaintiffs contacted the BAA, but a larger group of about 20 Newton Police officers soon returned and “formed a human barricade.” More officers on motorcycles stationed themselves behind the spectators, “effectively surrounding and penning in the people in the cheer zone of color,” according to the complaint. 

The spectators were alarmed by the “substantial” police presence and “show of force.” They feared for the safety of their members who were both spectators and runners, and were shocked to see that police were only focusing on the section of the marathon route with many non-white spectators, lawyers for TrailblazHers wrote in the complaint. 

“We are confident that the B.A.A. and our partners are prepared for a Boston Marathon that is welcoming to the 30,000 participants, spectators and eight cities and towns along the route. We are focused on creating a joyous experience for all. While the B.A.A. is aware of the complaint, we have not yet had the opportunity to review it,” a BAA spokesperson said in a statement to Boston.com Friday when asked about the recent lawsuit. 

‘They should be apologizing to us’

Last month, The Boston Globe reported that the BAA privately apologized to local police leaders for its response to the incident last year. Silva, the METRO-LEC head, reportedly told the BAA that his officers would not help staff the 2024 marathon unless it apologized for its response to the situation and agreed to pay for the costs of staffing officers at the race. 

The BAA agreed to the terms, Silva confirmed to Boston.com after the report became public. In previous years, individual cities and towns paid for their officers to staff the race. The BAA will cover those expenses this year, he said.

In the immediate aftermath of the incident and a whirlwind of criticism, BAA President and CEO Jack Fleming issued a statement apologizing for how the organization handled the situation. He said the BAA needs to “do better to create an environment that is welcoming and supportive of the BIPOC communities at the marathon.” Fleming also said that the organization could not host the race “without the first responders and law enforcement agencies across 26.2 miles that is necessary at an event of this scale.”

In an email to police chiefs this year, Fleming told them that the BAA “did not properly recognize the important role [police] play in the marathon and that you followed police protocol,” according to the Globe. 

Fleming’s reported apology to police is “completely backwards,” Frances Ramirez, a co-founder of TrailblazHers, said in a statement this week. 

“They should be apologizing to us — the spectators of color who were racially profiled and harassed. The BAA clearly approved [of] the discrimination we experienced last year,” she said. 

Seeking damages

Members of TrailblazHers participated in 10 separate meetings with the BAA to describe their experiences and their allegations of unlawful conduct committed by Newton Police. They also met with other officials from the Newton Mayor’s office, according to the complaint. 

But neither the BAA nor Newton Police “enacted any meaningful reforms to prevent racial profiling and harassment from happening again,” the plaintiffs said in the complaint. 

Fleming said in a statement to Boston.com last month that the BAA “did not do a good job last year communicating the longstanding policy that we need a clear course.”

“By not clearly and consistently communicating that policy or creating clear delineation around where spectators can view the race, we did a disservice to all spectators and the police that we rely on to help maintain a clear course,” he added. 

A spokesperson for the organization confirmed there will be four additional miles of barricades for this year’s marathon. The barricades will line the course in Ashland, Natick, Newton, Wellesley, and Boston.

The plaintiffs say in the complaint that the actions of Newton Police officers “inflicted significant emotional distress and lasting damage.” They are seeking damages and are asking the court to enjoin the defendants from racially profiling or harassing them again. 

The full complaint can be read below.