Wichita ? A Wichita man whose racial profiling complaint was the first one ruled on by the Kansas Human Rights Commission has a long history of complaints, a newspaper reported Sunday.

The Wichita Eagle examined the commission’s records and found that Aaron Patterson, 46, had lodged 18 complaints since 1990. That included his claim of profiling during a traffic stop in August.

One local activist worried that Patterson’s history of filing complaints would be used against him.

“It’s more comfortable for people to believe Aaron is a troublemaker than to face the troublesome issue of racial profiling,” said Kevin Myles, president of the Wichita chapter of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People.

Police, however, said they had not been aware of the other complaints and would not discount the one he filed against them.

“We’re going to continue to try and work with the Human Rights Commission to understand their ruling,” Deputy Police Chief Tom Stolz said.

In the profiling case, Patterson was pulled over, searched and then ticketed for failure to use a turn signal. Police have denied that race was a factor in the traffic stop, but the ticket later was thrown out.

The stop occurred in a predominantly black neighborhood after police said Patterson made brief contact with a known drug dealer. Patterson said he had a brief conversation because he knew the man’s brother.

Last month, the commission found that there was no justification for the initial stop and that police had used racial profiling. It was the first ruling issued under a new state law providing for outside review of profiling allegations.

All but one of Patterson’s complaints alleged racial discrimination, with 12 of those filed against Patterson’s employer. In several cases, Patterson’s attorney said, the commission found that discrimination had occurred.

“Mr. Patterson was right for standing up for his rights,” said the lawyer, Lawrence Williamson.