Crime & Law
Police Brass Agrees to Suspend Officers for Violating Rights of Black Driver During Downtown Traffic Stop
(WTTW News)
Three Chicago police officers violated the constitutional rights of a Black man who was improperly searched during a downtown traffic stop and should be suspended, the agency tasked with investigating police misconduct and department leaders agreed, records show.
The Civilian Office of Police Accountability determined that three tactical team officers assigned to patrol the Near North (18th) Police District improperly searched Limorris Bell and his car on Sept. 1, 2024, according to records published Thursday.
The agency better known as COPA found that while the officers properly stopped 36-year-old Bell on suspicion that he was not wearing his seat belt and did not signal before making a turn, they should not have searched Bell or his car after handcuffing him near Bellevue and Michigan avenues in Chicago’s Gold Coast neighborhood.
“Officers’ justifications for conducting the searches did not come close to meeting the standard required by law,” according to the conclusion of COPA’s probe. “Additionally, the officers failed to accept responsibility for their misconduct, and their constitutional violations against (Bell’s) civil rights did not align with CPD’s training expectations.”
The stop was 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.
Bell’s complaint is the first to be fully resolved by COPA, records show.
The agency has completed three other probes of stops made by the 18th District tactical team, but Chicago Police Supt. Larry Snelling has objected to COPA’s findings, or the discipline officials recommended, according to records obtained by WTTW News.
Lt. Robert Flores, of CPD’s Bureau of Internal Affairs, wrote in a letter that CPD concurred with COPA’s conclusions and found those violations merited the suspension of Officers Richard Rodriquez and Joseph Vecchio for 20 days and the suspension of Officer Crystina Kittrell for seven days.
COPA had recommended suspensions of no more than 29 days for each officer who participated in the stop, records show.
Bell has sued the city, alleging the officers violated his constitutional rights, records show.
Joel Flaxman, Bell’s attorney, said “COPA’s thorough investigation and the agreement by CPD with COPA’s finding are encouraging developments,” calling the case “indefensible” and urging officials to settle the matter.
Bell’s name was redacted from COPA’s report but became a part of the public record after he sued the city on Aug. 13.
A spokesperson for the Law Department declined to comment on Bell’s lawsuit or COPA’s finding, citing the pending lawsuit.
The letter about COPA’s concerns involving the actions of the 18th District tactical team has been entered as evidence in two other pending federal lawsuits that name the same tactical team of officers who stopped Bell, court records show.
Bell’s attorney is likely to submit both COPA’s letter and the agency’s completed probe as evidence. Both documents could help prove to a judge or jury that city officials knew the tactical team was making improper and racially biased stops and did nothing to stop them before Bell’s rights were violated. That could increase the city’s liability significantly, making it more costly to settle and increasing the likelihood a jury would find for Bell.
One of the officers, Vecchio, has been stripped of his police powers, according to a department spokesperson. Vecchio was named in 51 other complaints, according to records obtained by WTTW News.
Three other complaints against Vecchio have been sustained, resulting in suspensions of 17 days, records show.
Kittrell, named in 13 other complaints, and Rodriquez, named in 28 other complaints, remain on active duty in the 18th District, according to a department spokesperson.
Five other complaints against Rodriquez have been sustained, resulting in suspensions totaling 18 days. One of those complaints involved an improper search of a pedestrian after an investigatory stop, resulting in “substantial prior findings of misconduct,” records show.
Kittrell was suspended for 30 days in connection with a 2023 complaint that she was intoxicated while off-duty and for “driving under the influence while in the state of Tennessee,” records show.
Vecchio and Kittrell have “have significant prior discipline,” COPA concluded.
Vecchio, Kittrell and Rodriquez each earn more than $108,000 annually, according to the city’s employee database.
None of the officers responded to a request for comment from WTTW News.
A CPD spokesperson said all three officers had asked an arbitrator to overturn their suspensions.
Traffic Stop Leads to a Search
Bell’s lawsuit alleges that he was stopped near the Michigan Avenue shopping district just after 5:30 p.m. Sept. 1, 2024, solely because of his race.
Body-worn camera footage of the stop shows Bell was wearing his seat belt when officers approached his car, and provided his license and registration when requested, according to COPA’s probe.
Despite that, Rodriquez ordered Bell out of the car even as Bell requested that the officers call their supervisor to the scene and said he did not consent to a search, according to COPA’s probe. No supervisor was called to the scene, records show.
Vecchio handcuffed Bell, saying he “appeared to be visibly shaken” and nervous, making Vecchio fear for his safety, according to COPA’s probe.
The officers’ body-worn cameras captured Bell telling officers “he was nervous due to the stop and shared that he experienced anxiety and takes medication for it. (Bell) further stated that he was traumatized from previous police encounters,” according to COPA’s probe.
The officers told COPA investigators they searched Bell and his car because he was acting nervously, according to the probe.
While Bell was handcuffed, Rodriquez searched his pockets while Vecchio and Kittrell searched his entire car, according to COPA’s probe.
Bell was released without being cited for any infraction, according to COPA’s probe.
There was not enough evidence to determine whether officers violated CPD policy by stopping Bell, handcuffing him and not calling a supervisor, as he requested, according to COPA’s probe.
However, the officers violated Bell’s rights when they searched him and his car, both of which were conducted without justification, according to COPA’s probe.
“While nervous, evasive, behavior is a pertinent factor when considering the totality of the circumstances, that behavior alone cannot justify a search,” according to COPA’s probe.
New Effort to Stop Repeated Misconduct
Mayor Brandon Johnson has vowed to stop repeated instances of misconduct by the same officers, which cost Chicago taxpayers $295 million between 2019 and 2024, according to an analysis of city data by WTTW News.
The terms of the federal court order that requires CPD to change the way it trains, supervises and disciplines officers obligates the city to set up an early warning system that would identify problematic officers and get them off the street.
That system has yet to be implemented citywide, despite years of attempts. Johnson’s 2026 spending plan, if approved, would require CPD leaders to submit monthly reports to the City Council about progress on the system.
The eight officers named in COPA’s letter, which includes Vecchio, Rodriquez and Kittrell, have been named in 13 lawsuits filed by Chicago drivers who said they were improperly stopped and searched near the North Michigan Avenue shopping district because they are Black, according to an analysis of court records by WTTW News.
Chicago taxpayers have paid a combined $378,000 to resolve six of those lawsuits, records show. Each of the settlements were authorized by Corporation Counsel Mary Richardson Lowry and did not require City Council approval.
The city is facing a separate class-action lawsuit that accuses CPD of targeting Black and Latino drivers with a massive campaign of traffic stops in what the lawsuit describes as the latest chapter of the city’s “long and sordid history” of racist discrimination.
Officers assigned to the 18th District tactical team stopped drivers for stopping too far away from the curb, stopping in a no-parking zone and for failing to wear a seatbelt, which COPA calls “pretextual,” according to COPA’s letter.
The officers demonstrated a “consistent” failure to document the stops, as required by CPD policy and failed to record them by activating their body-worn cameras, according to COPA’s letter.
WTTW News coverage of policing and police reform is supported by The Joyce Foundation.
Contact Heather Cherone: @HeatherCherone | (773) 569-1863 | [email protected]
