Chicago Settles Police Lawsuit For $16.5 Million

cbs2chicago.com...

They were mistreated and neglected by Chicago police – men and women sometimes held for days, and denied food and bathroom breaks. Now the city of Chicago will pay. CBS 2's Kristyn Hartman spoke with one of the victims

Flashback to 2003. She says police arrested her and put her in an interview room. She stayed there some 36 hours

Attorney Mike Kanovitz explained the room: "There's nothing in this room but a hard floor, a bench, and hooks that they shackled people to."

Imperial says she was shackled. Bathroom privileges were very limited

"I had to, like, beat on the door...just to get to use the restroom," she said.

She says didn't get a phone call, and got just a hot dog and fries to eat during what amounted to a roughly two-day stay.

Law firm Loevy & Loevy charged police used inhumane conditions like those to get false confessions from people.

www.msnbc.msn.com...

The lawsuit claimed Chicago Police arrested people without warrants, shackled them to the wall or metal benches, fed them infrequently and held them without bathroom breaks and gave them no bedding.

Well it looks like maybe the Chicago police are going to have to change their procedure when it comes to how they treat people in their custody. If not they are just going to get hit with more lawsuits.

It's ridiculus that the have to be hit with a major class action lawsuit to get them to treat people properly.

What really gets me ticked off though is the fact that the citizens are the ones that will have to pay for their poor treatment of people.

www.suntimes.com...

Corporation Counsel Mara Georges said $15 million of the settlement would be paid by Chicago taxpayers. The remaining $1.5 million will come from the city's insurance policy against catastrophic legal settlements.

This is inexcusable that we have been left to foot the bill for their bad behavior. Maybe if they had to pay for their mistakes themselves they would be less likely to do this type of thing in the future. I think the police should have to pay that settlement themselves. Take so much out of their pay, take money out off whatever special funds they have, hey take it out of their retirement funds, whatever it takes so that we aren't left holding the bag. Better yet if Daley can't get his police department under control maybe he should foot the bill.

I'm just sick of it. They run around the city doing whatever they want and whenever they get hit with a lawsuit for their bad behavior civilians pay for it.

Oh and I really like one of the explanations that one of the city's attorneys gave for the police department's poor treatment of people.

However, Mara Georges, an attorney for the city of Chicago, said police can become afraid and face difficult decisions when "they think they've got the guilty party in custody."

How difficult of a decision is it to allow someone to go to the bathroom, make a phone call, or eat something ?

If you're so afraid of someone lock them in a cell, why keep them shackled for hours on end ?

www.chicagobusiness.com...

reply to post by chise61


I would like to know why there was no criminal complaints brought.

Oh well, we will have the taxpayers pay for it.

Now, I want to make a little point here. Who's rights are being infringed? The taxpayer, who is getting forced to pay?

Something is VERY wrong with our society.

Very wrong.

reply to post by endisnighe

I would like to know why there was no criminal complaints brought.

Because the police in Chicago are above the law. Even if criminla charges are brought against them and they are found guilty they serve no time. Because they know where you live, and most of the time where you work and they have no problem harrassing and intimidating you, or having their brothers in blue to do it for them.

Anthony Abbate is a perfect example.....

www.abovetopsecret.com...

And yes there is something very wrong with our society.

Here's another example of what Chicago cops get away with....

articles.chicagotribune.com...

And another.....

articles.chicagotribune.com...

And how they help each other out when they commit the crime....

www.chicagobreakingnews.com...

There are just so many examples of how corrupt our system is here that it really is infuriating, and sad.

Thanks a lot for bringing yet another example of Gorilla brutality to our attention.

Let us all set our watches now and wait for the cop apologists to arrive and cry that it was just a isolated precinct or a couple of bad apples.

We all know who they are. I give em 6 replies or less. Anyone want to take bets?

reply to post by warequalsmurder


There are just way too many incidents like this in Chicago for people to believe that it's isolated, or just a couple of bad apples.

The police are allowed to do as they please in this city because that's the way Daley wants his city to run. They talk a lot of smack about how bad the gangs are. How can you control the gangs when you can't even get your own police force under control.

Originally posted by chise61


This is inexcusable that we have been left to foot the bill for their bad behavior. Maybe if they had to pay for their mistakes themselves they would be less likely to do this type of thing in the future. I think the police should have to pay that settlement themselves. Take so much out of their pay, take money out off whatever special funds they have, hey take it out of their retirement funds, whatever it takes so that we aren't left holding the bag. Better yet if Daley can't get his police department under control maybe he should foot the bill.

Guess what? It wouldn't matter, because their salaries come out of tax payer money, too! So, even if they could pay out of their salaries, retirement funds, etc....it would be tax payer money, anyway.

And, if you think only Chicago has this sort of problem, you ought to move to Maricopa County in Arizona.

reply to post by Blanca Rose


Yes it would still be tax payer money, but I feel it would make a difference. As it stands right now they aren't losing any more than fellow tax payers.

If they had money deducted from their pay to cover their wrong doings they would be effected more than the rest of us and maybe they would begin to think about the consequences of their actions. The same applies for taking money from their retirement, or special funds.

They also have funds that they recieve from the things consficated from drug busts, etc that doesn't come out of tax payer money. Instead of using the money from those things for the police, they can use that money to help pay the settlements.

I'm quite sure that Chicago is not they only place that has this kind of problem. I assume that you're talking about sheriff Joe ? If so that is slighty different as sheriff's are elected officials, and if the people don't like how he runs his department they can remove him. I would say that since he keeps getting elected the people there must approve of his actions.

reply to post by chise61


The same goes for Chicago. You said something about that is the way Daley wants Chicago run.

Your vote would count if it comes to electing a new mayor. He is just a legacy from his fathers rule over Chicago. There were a few inbetween the father and the son, without much change in corruption, or how the city is run.

Believe me, I know. I grew up in the Chicago burbs, and lived in Wrigleyville for quite a few years, and really, the police treated me pretty well there.

I was forever and a day getting bomb threats on my car from the FALN, and the police would come over, inspect my car, and start it for me. It got to be a regular happening, actually. They knew I'd have a hot cup of coffee waiting for them when they showed up!

As for Sheriff Joe, yep, once again, a voted in figure.

If you don't like what's going on, by way of this settlement, then by all means, start a petition!

reply to post by chise61


This money should be used to upgrade/provide more adequate interrogation/holding tanks... and then they won't have to worry about anymore lawsuits... hopefully.

reply to post by Blanca Rose


Yes my vote would count, unfortunately no one will run against the man so that's not an option unless someone does. IMO he's worse than his father was.

Believe me, I know. I grew up in the Chicago burbs, and lived in Wrigleyville for quite a few years, and really, the police treated me pretty well there.

I was forever and a day getting bomb threats on my car from the FALN, and the police would come over, inspect my car, and start it for me. It got to be a regular happening, actually. They knew I'd have a hot cup of coffee waiting for them when they showed up!

Since you mention receiving bomb threats from the FALN i'm guessing that you're talking about the 70's or 80's. Things have changed here an awful lot since then. And the CPD is nothing like it was back then.

While you may have been treated pretty well 2-3 decades ago that doesn't mean that other people were, or are now.

Also this thread is about the way that the CPD handles people in their custody, not the way they treat people when they are responding to a call for help. I'm sure that you can understand that the police may possibly treat people in their custody with animosity and not give the same treatment to a person who has received a bomb threat.

In this country we are supposed to be presumed innocent until proven guilty. The CPD is doing the opposite and treating people in their custody as if they were already tried and found to be guilty. That type of treatment is unacceptable, and unfortunately it is the tax payers that must pay for them to learn that lesson.

I don't think that all cops are bad. I do think that there are those that abuse their position and authority. I also think that the number of cops that do abuse those things is rising instead of declining. The ones that are abusing their position and authority need to be removed from the force.

reply to post by Hedera Helix


At the bottom of this article....

www.suntimes.com...

They list some changes that they say they are making to prevent this from happening again.

Changes like this.....

To address the bedding complaint, the Police Department is securing thicker versions of a yoga mat to soften the benches in police lock-ups.

Originally posted by chise61


Also this thread is about the way that the CPD handles people in their custody, not the way they treat people when they are responding to a call for help. I'm sure that you can understand that the police may possibly treat people in their custody with animosity and not give the same treatment to a person who has received a bomb threat.

I actually think that the lawsuite speaks for itself. Here is a clue, if the message doesn't get out, like you have done with your thread, then, people will continue to be treated this way.

How about, avoid staying out of jail? Nobody likes the way they are treated in jail, jail is what it is, jail. It is not there to be like a stay at the Hilton, or a spa. You are also speaking about a huge metropolitan area that has a lot of crime.

Really, in my opinion, this article if anything, points out what to expect if you stumble across the law in the wrong way in Chicago.

Hopefully more residents will be safer for it.

reply to post by Blanca Rose

How about, avoid staying out of jail? Nobody likes the way they are treated in jail, jail is what it is, jail. It is not there to be like a stay at the Hilton, or a spa. You are also speaking about a huge metropolitan area that has a lot of crime.

Now how did I know that you would say something like that

This is not a situation where people are "in jail" this is a situation where people are being questioned, held in custody until they go to bond court or post bond, etc. There's a difference there and you know it.

I'm quite sure you also know that not everyone that is arrested is guilty of a crime. Like the woman that started this lawsuit.......

She didn't confess to anything. Ultimately, she was found not guilty.

cbs2chicago.com...


I really don't think anyone expects to be treated like they're at the hilton, or a spa when they spend time in jail, nor do I. But they do expect to be treated fairly, decently. The expectation of being allowed to use the restroom when necessary, or to eat at regular intervals is a far cry from expecting to be treated as if you were at a fancy hotel, or spa.

The simple fact that you are being detained for questioning, or bond court does not justify the police department treating you poorly. Their job is not to be judge and jury, they are not to treat people as convicted criminals unless they have been convicted.

The size and/or crime rate of a place does not justify the police department treating people in such a manner.

Yes hopefully because of this lawsuit the CPD will change the way they treat people, and our residents will be safer for it. No matter which way they stumble across the law.