I’ve posted in the past about how easy it is for a police officer to falsely arrest a driver for DUI and to fabricate evidence. Some of these cops carry this to extremes. These so-called "DUI SuperCops" receive awards from MADD, departmental promotions, and huge overtime paychecks for testifying in court. See, for example, DUI SuperCops and SuperCops: The Smoking Gun. And sometimes there are other reasons for the false arrests…
More Lawsuits Against Chicago DUI Cop Richard Fiorito
Chicago, IL. Nov. 13 –Chicago oolice officer Richard Fiorito is now facing 37 lawsuits alleging he intentionally targeted gay and lesbian drivers to issue false DUI arrests.
The lawsuits claim Fiorito was looking to capitalize on overtime pay issued to police officers when they appear in court to testify in a DUI case. Fiorito made 313 DUI arrests between January of 2007 and June of 2008; the officer was even honored by MADD for his efforts. Most of these arrests were against gay and lesbian suspects. He supposedly targeted these individuals when they left gay and lesbian bars or frequented gay and lesbian areas.
New dash cam evidence is pointing to the fact these arrest reports may have been exaggerated if not totally falsified…
Fiorito has been placed on desk dutysince the charges were first issued in early October. 16 more plaintiffs recently joined the case with the original 21, leading the total to 37 lawsuits against the officer. All testimony from Fiorito in any of these pending DUI cases will be on hold until internal investigations from the Cook County State Attorney’s Office and Independent Police Review Authority are complete.
Fiorito is not the only Chicago officer accused of these types of arrests in the previous few years. Officer John Haleas was suspected to be guilty of perjury last year, having about 50 cases dismissed, but was exonerated of criminal charges. [See my post No Surprise: Dirty DUI Cops Goes Free]
Framing gays for drunk driving is reprehensible. Hopefully, however, the public will also see the underlying message: it’s very easy for a cop to frame anyone for this cirme — for any reason.
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