SC woman gets $120K after police harassed, racially profiled her, attorney says
A woman who claimed she was harassed and racially profiled by a Lancaster police detective was awarded a $120,000 settlement in a federal lawsuit.
Anaysheon Coffey alleged in her lawsuit that Peter Beck, a now-former Lancaster police detective, violated her civil rights in 2020 when he barged into her home and began an illegal search without a warrant and arrested her. Coffey was jailed and released on bond before the department decided to drop charges against her in January 2022, something Coffey didn’t learn until three months later because the department never notified her, according to the suit.
The city and police department declined to comment on the settlement, which stipulates that both deny liability.
Represented by attorney Tyler Bailey, Coffey filed a federal civil rights lawsuit against the City of Lancaster, its police department, the police chief and Beck, who retired from the department in April 2021 amid a slew of allegations that he had a history of racially profiling Black residents, according to the suit.
Specifically, more than 20 residents complained to the Lancaster city council that Beck had a practice of illegally targeting Black residents during traffic stops and other interactions in violation of their constitutional rights —something the city and department knew about, according to the lawsuit, filed in 2023.
Beck, who was placed on administrative leave before resigning, received a $60,000 payout despite claims he’d systematically violated civil rights of the Black community he was entrusted with serving, a news release said.
“We are pleased that the city of Lancaster has resolved Ms. Coffey’s civil suit,” Bailey said in a news release. “This resolution sends a powerful message that racial profiling and harassment won’t be tolerated.”
Beck’s attorney, William Davidson II, was not available for comment.
This story was originally published August 13, 2025 at 11:46 AM.
