A prominent member of the LGBT community who was arrested the evening of the Pride Parade is alleging that several Chicago Police Department employees mistreated her.
Bobbie Briefman ( left ) . Photo by Ross Forman
On June 29, sports enthusiast and local activist Bobbie Briefman was arrested and detained. During the time she was in police custody, Briefman, who is disabled as a result of a serious accident, claims she was treated with a lack of compassion. Briefman, who has since been released, is considering taking legal action.
On the evening of the Pride Parade, after dropping off some friends, Briefman decided to drive to the Baton Show Lounge. Still in her rainbow gear, Briefman was driving on the Stevenson Expressway in her Chrysler Prowler, a hot rod-type sports car, near the Kedzie exit when Chicago police pulled her over. According to Briefman, the two police officers asked her who owned the vehicle ( she does ) , and when they took her license, indicated that she had done nothing wrong, such as speeding. She was not issued a ticket.
The officers discovered a warrant out for Briefman's arrest due to an unpaid speeding ticket issued in Indiana's Pulaski County. Briefman told Windy City Times that she had sent a check for the ticket, which was returned, and then forgot to follow up on the issue. They informed Briefman that they were arresting her and attempted to handcuff her, but then changed their minds. Briefman, a victim of a 2001 construction accident, is disabled from the waist down. She has very limited use of her legs and uses arm braces.
According to Briefman, she was escorted to the 9th District station, near 35th and Lowe. She was frisked and her belongings were taken. Briefman was then escorted to District 1, near 17th and State, where she was fingerprinted. There, she was put in a cell. Due to her spinal-cord injury, she was placed in room for those with disabilities.
'There was nothing about that cell that was handicapped-accessible,' Briefman told Windy City Times. For example, Briefman claims that the cell lacked any bars near the toilet, a common addition to a handicapped-accessible bathroom.
Briefman informed a guard of special accommodations she would need because of her injury, and was given what she described as a dirty, torn mat to sit on. During her stay in the cell, Briefman, who is incontinent because of her injury, wet herself. She tried to wrap herself in the torn plastic layer of the mat given to her to keep warm. Later, she said, a guard accused her of destroying the mat and called her a 'bitch.'
'It was degrading,' she said.
Briefman was escorted to 26th and California the next morning. She said one guard was kind to her, and helped her clean up.
There, Briefman spent time in a holding cell before seeing the judge, who told her could eventually post bail. She spent more time in a cell. Hours went by. Briefman was taken to the medical center, taken for a photo ID and more.
Eventually, a family member was able to post bond for Briefman, and she was able to leave by 11:30 p.m. Monday.
Briefman said she is telling her story to shed light on the lack of compassion she witnessed from several officers and guards at the various places she was kept during the debacle, and even afterwards. For example, when she returned to the District 1 station to try to pick up one of her belongings, Briefman claims she was screamed at and forced to stand for over an hour.
'Have some compassion,' Briefman pleaded. 'I've already been stripped away of all my dignity.'
Briefman said there was no reason for the treatment. She wants individuals to hear her story so that if this happens to someone else, maybe they will have the courage to come forward.
Chicago police did not respond to Briefman's story, or to questions about procedures and police training in terms of dealing with those who are disabled, before press time.
