Crime & Law
Suspend CPD Officers, Sergeant Repeatedly Accused of Making Improper Traffic Stops for a Combined 180 Days: Police Brass
A Chicago Police Department vehicle is parked on Clark Street near Daley Plaza on June 15, 2026. (Victor Hilitski / WTTW News)
A Chicago police sergeant and three officers repeatedly accused of improperly stopping and searching Black people should be suspended for a combined 180 days for their actions during three traffic stops, Chicago Police Department leaders and the agency tasked with investigating police misconduct agreed, records show.
The Civilian Office of Police Accountability determined that four members of the tactical team that had been assigned to patrol the Near North (18th) Police District improperly stopped and searched three drivers and their cars between July 2024 and October 2024, according to records published Thursday.
In all, the agency better known as COPA has determined members of that tactical team violated department policy during 22 separate traffic stops, according to a WTTW News analysis of COPA records.
The stops were part of what COPA identified as a troubling pattern of 50 undocumented and unprofessional stops of Black people in Lincoln Park, West Town, Old Town, River North, Streeterville, the Gold Coast and parts of Logan Square in 2024, records show.
More than 90% of the complaints investigated by COPA were sparked by officers’ decisions to pull over Black people, according to a letter sent by COPA to the district’s commander.
Interim Supt. Fred Waller agreed to suspend Sgt. Erick Seng as well as Officers Joseph Vecchio, Richard Rodriguez and Nicu Tohatan for 30 days each in connection with their actions during an Oct. 24, 2024, traffic stop, records show.
That incident involved a DoorDash driver, who was stopped near Hubbard and Dearborn streets in River North. After telling the driver she was stopped in a tow zone, the officers ordered her and her passenger out of the car and searched her and the car before they were allowed to leave without a citation, according to COPA’s investigation.
The driver told COPA she believed the officers stopped her because she is Black, telling them another car driven by a White individual that was parked in the tow zone was not stopped or searched.
COPA determined the traffic stop and the search violated CPD policy and the drivers’ constitutional rights, records show. The probe found no evidence that the officers stopped the driver because she was Black, according to the probe.
None of the officers documented the stop, as required by CPD policy, according to the probe.
In a separate stop a month later on Nov. 26, 2024, Vecchio and Tohatan saw a man sitting in a parked car with an expired license plate, according to COPA.
Vecchio and Tohatan ordered the man out of the car after he declined to answer officers’ questions, telling them he was not operating the vehicle, according to the probe. The officers handcuffed the man and searched him, according to the probe.
After finding nothing illegal in the car and checking to see if the man was wanted by police on other charges, Vecchio demanded that the man apologize to him for failing to answer his questions or face arrest. The man apologized, according to the probe.
COPA determined the stop and the search violated CPD policy and the drivers’ constitutional rights and Vecchio abused his authority as a police officer by demanding an apology, records show.
Waller agreed Vecchio should be suspended for 30 days and Tohatan for 15 days in connection with their actions during the traffic stop.
In a separate incident on July 24, 2024, visitors from Wisconsin flagged down Vecchio and another officer to ask why their car had been ticketed in the 400 block of North Wabash Avenue in River North.
In response to that request, Vecchio pulled over the car and ordered all of the car’s occupants to get out, handcuffed them and searched the car.
Although Vecchio said he saw burnt cannabis in the car, the car’s occupants were allowed to leave without being citied and no illegal drugs were recovered. The officers’ body-worn cameras captured no evidence of cannabis in the car, according to the probe.
COPA determined the search of the car and its occupants violated CPD policy and the driver’s constitutional rights, records show.
Neither of the officers documented the stop, as required by CPD policy, according to the probe.
One occupant of the car told COPA investigators “her family has not returned to Chicago since this incident due to their ‘horrible experience’ with the officers,” according to the probe.
CPD officials agreed Vecchio should be suspended for 15 days in connection with his actions during the traffic stop, records show.
That complaint is the first of at least eight complaints involving traffic stops conducted by Vecchio in the same location to be resolved.
In a separate complaint, filed in November 2024 and still under investigation, an employee of a restaurant said he watched Vecchio and other officers routinely stop drivers as they pulled up to the valet parking area.
“They falsely arrest either the passenger or driver, so they can search the entire car,” according to the complaint. “The two officers come outside of the restaurant every day and harass our black customers. I do not think it’s fair to overuse their power to harass black people.”
In all, 26 complaints against Vecchio have been sustained, resulting in recommended suspensions totaling at least 325 days, records show.
Vecchio is facing termination for making false statements under oath about two separate stops, records show. He was stripped of his badge in October 2025.
In addition, Vecchio was charged with a felony count of aggravated domestic battery in August and is being held in jail pending trial, records show. His next court date is Thursday, records show. He could not be reached for comment by WTTW News.
Seng, who earns more than $152,000 annually, is assigned to CPD’s Gang Investigation Division.
In all, 14 complaints against Seng have been sustained, resulting in recommended suspensions totaling at least 181 days, records show. He did not respond to a request for comment from WTTW News.
Both Tohatan and Rodriguez have been stripped of their badge and assigned to administrative duties. Tohatan, who earns more than $115,000 annually, did not respond to a request for comment from WTTW News.
In all, 21 complaints against Rodriguez have been sustained, resulting in recommended suspensions totaling at least 271 days, records show. Rodriguez, who also earns more than $115,000 annually, could not be reached for comment.
Taxpayers have spent a total of $1.2 million to defend and settle 21 pending and 10 resolved lawsuits naming members of the tactical team, according to records obtained by WTTW News.
Lawyers for the city are negotiating a global settlement to resolve 17 of those lawsuits, WTTW News reported earlier this year.
WTTW News coverage of policing and police reform is supported by The Joyce Foundation.
Contact Heather Cherone: @HeatherCherone | (773) 569-1863 | [email protected]
