Representatives of Gay Liberation Network ( GLN ) said that, according to sources within the Cook County State's Attorney's office, criminal proceedings against embattled Chicago police officer Richard Fiorito will not continue.
Sally Daly, a spokesperson for the state's attorney's office, denied the report, saying, "The investigation remains ongoing."
Fiorito has been under investigation for allegedly falsifying DUI arrest reports. He is further alleged to have targeted LGBT motorists in particular, using anti-gay slurs over the course of those arrests.
Separately, Fiorito is the defendant in a class-action federal civil-rights lawsuit based on his alleged animus toward LGBT drivers. The plaintiffs' lawyer in that case, Jon Erickson, said that the trial is still in the discovery phase, with his clients giving depositions.
GLN's Andy Thayer said that his organization "got word from inside the State's Attorney's office" that the state's attorney, Anita Alvarez, had decided not to move forward with the case, which has been under investigation by a grand jury.
"This fits a pattern of how the state's attorney's office has dealt with corrupt police officers in the past," said Thayer, noting that the office has been slow to prosecute police-misconduct cases such as that of former Chicago police commander Jon Burge, who is alleged to have tortured arrestees in the 1980s ( and who was fired from the police force in 1993 ) . "Should we be so surprised?"
Erickson said that he was unaware of the status of the investigation into Fiorito's actions.
