The City of Chicago has settled the last of federal lawsuits aimed at Richard Fiorito, a former Lakeview cop who allegedly hit LGBT people with false DUI charges.
James Dean Jr. and Steven Lopez were recently awarded in the case against Fiorito, which began with 37 complainants on DUI arrests dating as far back as 2003.
Dean and Lopez were each awarded $99,000 in the settlements and up to a combined $250,000 in attorney's fees, to be determined at a later date by a judge.
"Justice was served," said attorney Jon Erickson, who represented both men. "It took a long time."
Complaints about Fiorito first surfaced in 2003, but it was not until 2009 that the allegations made headlines.
Several LGBT people complained that Fiorito had used anti-gay and racist language during the arrests, and Fiorito became the target of gay rights activists who protested his continued employment after the allegations broke.
Fiorito allegedly issued hundreds of false DUIs to motorists, more than 130 of which the Cook County State's Attorney's office threw out. But the State's Attorney dropped criminal proceedings against Fiorito in early 2010, amid community protest.
According to Erickson, most of cases against Fiorito, filed in the Northern District of Illinois, were dismissed because plaintiffs had committed minor infractions before being stopped—driving without headlights, not having a city sticker or failing to use a turn signal.
Roderick Drew, a spokesperson for the city's law department, said that some of the plaintiffs also failed to show for court. In total, 17 cases involving Fiorito were filed in federal court. Three were settled, while the rest were dismissed.
Others could not file suits involving the DUIs because they had accepted earlier deals in the criminal charges against them.
"Everybody that we filed for was not guilty of the DUI," said Erickson.
Erickson contends that Fiorito issued the DUIs to buy himself overtime hours in court. Many minorities complained that the officer had unfairly targeted them.
According to Erickson, Fiorito used racist slurs against Dean, a Black gay man who was stopped by Fiorito moments after being released from the Town Hall District Police station on a traffic charge. Erickson alleges that Fiorito instructed Dean to move his car and then immediately pulled him over for a DUI, despite the fact that police did not report him being intoxicated minutes earlier.
Drew said the settlements conclude the cases involving Fiorito. But, he said, "The settlement is not an admission of liability."
The city had been prepared to take Dean's case to trial Aug. 20, he said.
