Joliet Police Racial Profiling Traffic Stop Near I-55: Lawsuit

JOLIET, IL — The Joliet Police Department and three officers are named in a federal lawsuit accusing them of violating the civil rights of Neal McMurtry, a 29-year-old African-American man, who was the victim of racial profiling last October, according to the law firm of Ed Fox & Associates in Chicago.

The plaintiff's lawsuit names Joliet police officers Pat Strocchia, Emily D’Amico and Kristopher Fitzgerald as defendants. They are accused of unlawful detention and search, excessive use of force, assault and battery.

Joliet has hired outside legal counsel, Martin W. McManaman of L & G Law Group in Chicago, to defend the city and the three Joliet police officers named as defendants. Joliet Patch called McManaman seeking comment on the lawsuit, but he did not call back.

Fox told Joliet Patch the improper traffic stop occurred near the hotels off Interstate 55 by the Louis Joliet Mall area.

McMurtry "was lawfully driving in his vehicle" in Joliet around 2 a.m. on Oct. 5, 2020, in the 3000 block of Plainfield Road near the hotels, his lawyer said.

Fox contends the Joliet police pulled McMurtry over because he is Black, and therefore they erroneously suspected he might have drugs with him. He was traveling alone at the time.

"It has all the appearances of a racial profiling incident," Fox told Joliet Patch's editor. "There was no other reason [for] which they stopped him."

A Romeoville resident, McMurtry has no criminal history.

"There was no legal cause to detain the Plaintiff," the federal lawsuit states. "The defendants asked for Plaintiff’s consent to search his vehicle. Plaintiff declined consent. Defendants then physically and abusively forced and caused Plaintiff to exit his vehicle."

Fox told Patch the officers who made the questionable traffic stop roughed up his client.

"Plaintiff was then forcibly handcuffed," court documents reflect. "Forcibly handcuffing Plaintiff caused his shoulder to become re-injured as it had been previously injured.

"Then, defendants caused an additional K-9 officer with his dog to come to the scene. The dog appeared to do a search of Plaintiff and his vehicle ... There was no contraband or other illegal substance found on Plaintiff or his vehicle."

After being detained "for a lengthy period of time," Joliet officers Strocchia, D’Amico and Fitzgerald informed McMurtry he was free to leave, the lawsuit indicates.

"Plaintiff is informed and believes and alleges ... that similarly situated non-African Americans have not been detained in the manner in which the Defendants detained him, and that non-African Americans have not been detained and handcuffed for engaging in acts similar to that of Plaintiff," attorney Fox argues.

Last October's traffic stop left McMurtry suffering great physical, mental and emotional pain and sustaining injuries "including, but not limited to, humiliation and indignities," court records show.

"Plaintiff was required to retain an attorney to institute, prosecute, and render legal assistance to him in the within action so that he might vindicate the loss and impairment of his rights," Fox contends.

Fitzgerald and Strocchia joined the Joliet Police Department in 2019. D'Amico joined the city police force in 2018.

Meanwhile, the Joliet Police Department remains one of the largest police departments in the Midwest that has successfully pushed back at efforts in the community to require its officers to wear body cameras.

In December, Mayor Bob O'Dekirk, a former Joliet officer in the 1990s, as well as the Joliet City Council agreed that no funds would be included in the 2021 operating budget for police body cameras.

Earlier this week, Joliet city officials announced they would accept public comment for an entire month on a draft proposal for the use of body cameras. However, at this point, no money has been allocated to make any such purchases.

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