Crime & Law
Lawsuit Alleges Day Laborers Were Abused by Off-Duty Chicago Police Officers Working as Security at a Chicago Home Depot
A group of migrant day laborers is suing the city of Chicago, the Chicago Police Department and The Home Depot following months of alleged harassment by security at a store in the New City neighborhood.
The federal lawsuit was filed on Tuesday in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Illinois. According to the complaint, the five plaintiffs claim they were unfairly targeted by off-duty police officers who work as security guards at the Home Depot store at 47th Street and Western Avenue.
“The lawsuit alleges that a litany of abuses have been committed,” said Kevin Herrera, legal director at Raise the Floor Alliance, which is representing the plaintiffs who filed the complaint along with the People’s Law Office. “Our allegations are clear based on what our plaintiffs have said to us, about what they experienced. Which is essentially that officers near The Home Depot handcuffed them, punched them, slapped them, kicked them, insulted them based on presumptions about who they were, whether it was national origin as Venezuelans or based on their race and ethnicity. And then those folks were held in a private back room in the Home Depot, sometimes for as many as several hours before being arrested and then charged with criminal trespass.”
An emailed statement from The Home Depot to WTTW News states, “We take allegations of violence very seriously and are investigating this issue. We believe in respecting all people, and we don't tolerate violence or discrimination.”
The City of Chicago and Chicago Police Department declined to comment based on pending litigation, but a spokesperson from the Civilian Office of Police Accountability acknowledged COPA was made aware of the incident in March, and that it is currently investigating.
“I would be concerned if they tolerated violence,” said Miguel Alvelo Rivera, executive director at Latino Union of Chicago, another party involved in the lawsuit. “The reality is that they don't need to condone something in order to create the space that allows for that type of violence. And this is what we’ve been seeing. There has been a pattern of Home Depot increasing security on their properties which yes, it is their right. There's also been a pattern of Home Depot taking active action against the presence of jornaleros (day laborers) … to make sure that the space is as uncomfortable as possible for folks that are really just trying to make a living.”
In addition to monetary compensation for the plaintiffs, the lawsuit also addresses CPD’s policies on “moonlighting,” which refers to police officers taking on secondary jobs.
“Here in Chicago is one of the least regulated cities in the country when it comes to what an officer who’s sworn in to serve the city can do in their time away,” Herrera said. “So right now, what we’re asking for in part in the lawsuit is, you know, something to help regulate people from abusing their power as police when they're not working for the city.”
