By Caroline Kubzansky
Chicago Tribune
CHICAGO — A group of Chicago firefighters have accused the city and the Chicago Fire Department of violating their Fourth and 14th Amendment rights during a set of vehicle searches in late February.
In a federal lawsuit filed Friday, 23 firefighters alleged that Fire Department investigators went through firefighters’ personal vehicles for guns and weapons on Feb. 27 and 28 at Engine 86’s fire station in the Dunning neighborhood on the Northwest Side. The firefighters, engineers, paramedics and lieutenants were being represented in court by attorneys from their union, the International Association of Firefighters.
The lawsuit alleges that fire officials called all firefighters working to the floor of the Dunning fire station, located at 3918 N. Harlem Ave., told them of the search and encouraged them to speak up if they had a gun or a weapon in their vehicles. Officials searched vehicles at that station because they’d received an anonymous tip, the complaint stated.
The plaintiffs allegedly had to stand next to their cars with their keys as officials searched the vehicles. Two sets of searches occurred over two days, according to the complaint.
The lawsuit alleges that officials threatened the firefighters with disciplinary action if they did not cooperate in the searches. Fire Department rules prohibit weapons in or around department facilities. City rules prohibit public workers from bringing firearms into city-owned buildings or vehicles along with residential buildings. The city may search for weapons on its property with probable cause or reasonable suspicion.
The complaint notes that the firefighters’ union has been negotiating a contract for almost four years. It does not allege that the city was retaliating against the firefighters over union matters, but states that the alleged searches took place “against (the) backdrop” of those negotiations and that the suit was intended in part to prevent the city from “using the threat of future searches and seizures while (the union) and Chicago continue to negotiate a contract.”
The suit, whose plaintiffs work in the Dunning fire station, seeks a ban on future searches of firefighters’ personal property, as well as compensatory and punitive damages. It lists an assistant commissioner with the Fire Department and an internal affairs investigator as defendants along with the city.
The Fire Department referred a request for comment to the city’s law department. The city had not yet been served with the complaint Tuesday and does not comment on pending legal matters, a spokesperson said.
According to the complaint, no firearms were found in the searches. No hearing dates have been set in the case.
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