A group of Chicago firefighters have accused the city and the Chicago Fire Department of violating their Fourth and 14th Amendment rights during a set of vehicle searches in late February.
In a federal lawsuit filed Friday, 23 firefighters alleged that Fire Department investigators went through firefighters’ personal vehicles for guns and weapons on Feb. 27 and 28 at Engine 86’s fire station in the Dunning neighborhood on the Northwest Side. The firefighters, engineers, paramedics and lieutenants were being represented in court by attorneys from their union, the International Association of Firefighters.
The lawsuit alleges that fire officials called all firefighters working to the floor of the Dunning fire station, located at 3918 N. Harlem Ave., told them of the search and encouraged them to speak up if they had a gun or a weapon in their vehicles. Officials searched vehicles at that station because they’d received an anonymous tip, the complaint stated…