Race relations and the trustworthiness of the police were the main topics during jury selection on Monday as the trial of Thabo Sefolosha, the basketball player, started in Manhattan Criminal Court.
Mr. Sefolosha, who is black, has been charged with resisting arrest and interfering with the police investigation of a stabbing outside a Manhattan nightclub, but he has accused the police of wrongful arrest and brutality. Most of the officers involved in his arrest were white, his defense lawyer said.
Alex Spiro, the lawyer for Mr. Sefolosha, a forward for the Atlanta Hawks, asked potential jurors if they would agree that everyone was swayed to some degree by racial bias, and that police officers might have an unconscious bias against a black man.