Traffic stopOn dutyRacial epithetsFalse arrest or reportGunExtended detentionWeapons chargesDrug charges
Plaintiff:
Stephanie Holmes
Incident date:
03/18/2012
Location:
7502 S Exchange Ave.
Allegations:
Holmes was sitting in the passenger seat of a car when Officers Marinez and Chavez pulled over the vehicle. After placing Holmes and the driver in handcuffs, one of the officers asked Holmes if there was anything in the car they needed to know about. Holmes told him there was a bag with an unloaded gun and a small plastic bag with bullets on the floor of the passenger seat, along with the key to the gun and her FOID card in the front pocket of the bag. The officer who handcuffed Holmes told her, "This is a big collar for us, and you know, niggers around here with a gun. As long as you put it in the paperwork that they have a gun, they'll go to jail for it." The officers filed a report stating that Holmes was carrying a loaded gun in her waistband, was in possession of marijuana, and was not carrying the paperwork for her gun. Holmes' bag was inventoried separately from the paperwork that she carried in it, and the officers did not verify the paperwork. Holmes was charged with two Class 4 felonies and for possession of cannabis, was detained for more than a month at Cook County Jail, and spent a year and a half under house arrest after she was released. Holmes had previously worked as a security guard, and was unable to find employment during her house arrest.