Allegations:
Van der Vant lives in the Forest Glen neighborhood and has several police officers as neighbors. Shortly after van der Vant moved into her home, she decided to erect a fence around the perimeter of her property. When the officers who live around her learned of her plans they complained and protested. The plaintiff put up her fence anyway, and since then the officers have harassed her. The harassment has included officers putting empty ticket envelopes on van der Vant's vehicle when it was parked outside her home and issuing complaints and threats over her barking dog. In one instance, Officer Hallinan got a call from an unknown officer who lived on van der Vant's block complaining about her dog. Hallinan and Officers Aviles and Davis headed to the plaintiff's home and entered her fenced-off yard without permission to remove the collar from her dog's neck. Soon after, the plaintiff called her dog into her home and noticed the collar was missing. The next day she filed a police report for the missing collar. Hallinan called the plaintiff's husband later that day to say the collar had been recovered and was ready to be picked up at the Jefferson Park police station. It was urgent that it be picked up or the collar would not be available for several weeks, Hallinan said. Van der Vant's husband called her and asked her to pick up the collar on her way home from work. When the plaintiff arrived at the station she asked for Hallinan, who requested her identification. After she presented her identification, officers surrounded the plaintiff and arrested her without justification on suspicion of animal abuse. Three veterinarians examined the plaintiff's dog after her arrest and concluded the dog was in good health. While she was in police custody and handcuffed for hours to a steel bench, van der Vant's sciatica flared up, requiring hospitalization. The charges against van der Vant were later dismissed during a bench trial.