Firing a legal shot across the bow, a coalition of well-known civil rights attorneys Thursday warned the federal judge overseeing the Chicago Police Department consent decree they may seek his help if the city doesn’t agree to protect the rights of protesters.
Attorney Sheila Bedi and others shared with U.S. District Judge Robert Dow a 26-page catalog of alleged civil rights violations by police since May 29, along with a letter to city attorneys that notes, “the consent decree was supposed to usher in a new era of unbiased policing.”
Instead, the letter states, the Chicago Police Department’s response to recent protests reflects its “ongoing commitment to racial profiling and bigoted, unprofessional policing.” The attorneys told the city to reach out by 3 p.m. Friday to avoid involving the judge.
Absent an agreement, Bedi told the Sun-Times they would ask Dow to implement a series of “proposed remedies” laid out in the letter, including one that prohibits officers from using force against protesters.
Another says, “CPD must move to terminate both the officers who themselves engaged in excessive force and harassment of protesters and those officers who failed to intervene and stood idly by.” The coalition also wants the city to implement a pre-arrest diversion program and allow arrestees access to phones and counsel within an hour of arrest when practicable.
A spokeswoman for Chicago’s law department said in a statement: “For years, this city has been working in partnership with our communities to build a more transparent, accountable and professional police force, and in recent months, we’ve doubled-down on our efforts to not only meet important milestones mandated by the consent decree but to implement new first-of-their-kind reforms. Further, we are committed to ensuring and protecting all individuals’ First Amendment rights to peacefully protest in this city. We’ve received the letter and are reviewing it and will respond to the Coalition in due course.”
A message seeking comment from the Chicago police union was not immediately returned.
The coalition’s request could amount to a new test for Dow, who approved the consent decree early in January 2019 in an order that said, “the court is under no illusion that this will be an easy process.”
Since then, the city has gone on to miss several deadlines laid out in the decree, blowing more than 70 percent of them in the latest reporting period. Independent Monitor Maggie Hickey has also promised a special report on the handling of protests since the death of George Floyd.
In Bedi’s filing Thursday, the attorneys wrote that the Chicago Police Department “has failed to make any meaningful changes to its operations, policies, patterns and practices” since the consent decree was implemented. They also wrote that the animus of police officers toward protesters “is unmistakable.”
“They regularly refer to protesters with terms that are vile, misogynistic, and anti-gay,” they wrote. “CPD also targets (protesters’) property — destroying cameras, eyeglasses, and confiscating bikes, backpacks, and other belongings.”
An attached chart of alleged civil rights violations points to 62 protesters ranging in age from their teens to their 40s. Some said they were pushed or chased and had no injuries. But one claimed temporary blindness after being pepper sprayed. Another said he needed staples in his head after officers hit him with batons and pulled his hair. And another said she had nerve damage after officers slammed her into a planter on the street.
One 30-year-old alleged an officer told a group of protesters, “wait till I get my badge off, you f---ing f----ts.”
