We represent Black and Latino Chicagoans in a lawsuit against the City of Chicago seeking to end the Chicago Police Department’s (CPD) practice of racially discriminatory mass traffic stops. Plaintiffs Eric Wilkins, Mahari Bell, Essence Jefferson, José Manuel Almanza, Jr., and Jacquez Beasley all have been subjected to repeated traffic stops, and in certain cases, frisks and searches of their cars. We allege that their experiences are typical of the hundreds of thousands of discriminatory, pretextual traffic stops of drivers of color by CPD officers every year.
Data alleged in the complaint shows that CPD officers are far more likely to pull over Black and Latino drivers. Since 2016, Black drivers in Chicago have been 4 to 7 times more likely than white drivers to be stopped by police; Latino drivers have been about twice as likely to be stopped as white drivers. The Chicago police are also far more likely to search Black and Latino drivers and their vehicles, even though the police are more likely to find illegal contraband in the vehicles of white drivers.
Through its mass traffic stop program, CPD harasses, racially profiles, and demeans hundreds of thousands of law-abiding community members of color who are simply trying to go about their day. In doing so, it undermines public confidence in CPD and wastes public resources, which in turn harms public safety.
The complaint asserts that the mass traffic stop program is not effective at decreasing serious crime in Chicago. The complaint also alleges that the mass traffic stop program does not advance roadway safety. Instead, CPD officers use traffic stops for alleged minor equipment and registration violations as an excuse to investigate drivers and their cars in hopes of finding guns, drugs, or other contraband. However, the complaint alleges, only a miniscule portion of traffic stops in Chicago yield any contraband or result in an arrest.
The complaint asserts that CPD policies require officers to satisfy traffic stop quotas and flood neighborhoods on the South and West Sides of the City – where the majority of residents are Black or Latino – with traffic stops. Our class representatives experienced this firsthand when they were stopped by CPD officers.
On June 10, 2024, the court substantially denied the City’s motion to dismiss our complaint. The judge held that we adequately pleaded claims for violation of the Equal Protection Clause and the Illinois Civil Rights Act by alleging that CPD perpetuated the mass traffic stop program despite being on notice about its harm to Black and Latino drivers, and despite knowing that the program does not yield public safety benefits to justify that harm. Further, the complaint alleges discrimination because CPD targets segregated neighborhoods in Chicago as a proxy for race and ethnicity, and stereotypes Black and Latino drivers as more likely to possess contraband—the excuse CPD often uses for disproportionately stopping and searching drivers of color.
In August 2025, we filed a motion seeking class certification to represent all Black and Latino drivers who have been stopped as part of this program since June 2021, and who will be stopped in the future. The filing demonstrates that the mass traffic stops program was and is a deliberate effort on behalf of CPD and City leadership to stop and search Black and Latino drivers. We note that four of the five class representatives have been stopped by CPD officers since we filed the lawsuit. The motion substantiates that CPD has used “activity” targets to establish traffic stop quotas. The filing also demonstrates the disparate effect of the mass traffic stop program on Black and Latino drivers and neighborhoods. For example, individuals living in ZIP codes where most residents are Black and Latino are substantially more likely to be stopped by CPD, compared to residents of majority-white ZIP codes.
The lawsuit asks a federal court to prohibit CPD and the City from targeting neighborhoods with predominantly Black and Latino residents for a high volume of pretextual traffic stops, bar the use of traffic stops as an excuse to search for contraband like weapons or drugs, and end traffic stop quotas, among other requests.
