Plaintiff:
Felipe Hernandez
Incident date:
03/25/2014
Location:
5511 S. Normandy Ave.
Allegations:
Tapia and Hernandez were gathering signatures on a petition and passing out information for the Brighton Park Neighborhood Council and Grassroots Collaborative when Officers Ryan and Stark stopped them, searched them and asked what they were doing. Tapia and Hernandez said they were canvassing, but police put them in a squad car, reviewed their identification and searched their backpacks. While this was happening, Officer Murphy and two other officers arrived and began asking Tapia and Hernandez about their canvassing. Ryan questioned Tapia about his name and the fact that his cell-phone number was from out-of-state. Tapia and Hernandez were searched again, then handcuffed and put back in the squad car. Police charged them with unlawful solicitation. The charges were later dismissed.