Plaintiff:
Marlon Triplett
Incident date:
05/18/2010
Location:
8900 S. Michigan Ave.
Allegations:
In May 2010, Triplett, a college student, had just ridden his bike to the alley entrance behind his godmother's home near 89th Street and Michigan Avenue when a man ran toward him and pulled out a gun as Triplett was going through the back gate. Afraid, Triplett ran away. But as he crossed a neighbor's yard to try and reach his godmother's front door, an officer jumped out of a police car on Michigan and ordered Triplett to get on the ground. Triplett told the officer, “You've got the wrong guy, the guy with a gun is in the alley.” But the officer arrested Triplett anyway, and as he was waiting in the back of the squad car other officers came up, including an off-duty officer Triplett recognized as a resident of the neighborhood. The off-duty officer told Triplett, “You're breaking into houses now, I should break your face.” Triplett then heard the group of officers talking with the man who had pulled a gun on him, and realized the incident was about an attempted break-in of a home on 89th Street. The officers took Triplett to a police station and tried to convince him to admit to the crime. Triplett refused. He was held overnight and charged with criminal trespass. At Triplett's first court date, he was offered one year's probation in exchange for a guilty plea, but refused and said he hadn't committed any crime and was given a June 2010 trial date. Meanwhile, police conspired to implicate Triplett for the burglary of Officer Howard's home; Howard's home was a few miles from the home on 89th Street where the May 2010 attempted break-in took place. The morning of Triplett's trial for the May 2010 burglary, three officers came to his home to arrest him for the Howard burglary, falsely claiming to have a warrant, using “foul and abusive language” and entering the home even though they were told Triplett wasn't there. Later that morning, the May 2010 case against Triplett was dismissed, but he was re-arrested for the Howard burglary as he left the courthouse. Police claimed that the physical evidence -- fingerprints and DNA -- pointed to Triplett, even though the fingerprints didn't match and Triplett had never provided a DNA sample to police. Triplett couldn't make bond in the case, however, and ended up spending two months in Cook County Jail before the charges were dropped.