Plaintiff:
Loretta Murphy
Incident date:
05/28/2011
Location:
540 N. Michigan Ave.
Allegations:
Murphy arrived at a downtown hotel to continue celebrating her daughter's wedding. Murphy's daughter had arranged with the hotel for the rental of a honeymoon suite and a hospitality suite. She had informed the hotel that guests would arrive around midnight and would be bringing alcohol to the suite. Hotel staff brought several cases of beer and additional seating into the suite. As Murphy's daughter was leaving the hospitality suite later that evening, she encountered several hotel security guards as they approached the hospitality suite. She told them she had a previous arrangement with the hotel for the use of the suite. The security guards apologized and said they would not return. After her daughter left, Murphy went to sleep in a bedroom in the hospitality suite while other guests remained. One of the guests woke up Murphy to tell her that there were security guards and Chicago police officers at the door, including Hladczuk, Torres and Mack. As Murphy told the officers that the guests were permitted to be in the suite, one of the guests was drinking from a champagne bottle. This angered the officers, who demanded that the guest put down the bottle. Murphy continued to explain that all the guests had the right to be there, which further angered the officers, who restrained and arrested her. A hotel signed a criminal complaint against Murphy on behalf of the hotel for disorderly conduct. She was taken to a police station and processed. While in custody, Murphy was kept handcuffed in a cell. Prior to the trial, the chief security officer for the hotel went to court and asked to drop the charge against Murphy. The charge was dismissed.