Three Chicago police officers violated the constitutional rights of a Black man who was improperly searched during a downtown traffic stop and should be suspended, the agency tasked with investigating police misconduct and department leaders agreed, records show.
The Civilian Office of Police Accountability determined that three tactical team officers assigned to patrol the Near North (18th) Police District improperly searched Limorris Bell and his car on Sept. 1, 2024, according to records published Thursday.
The agency better known as COPA found that while the officers properly stopped 36-year-old Bell on suspicion that he was not wearing his seat belt and did not signal before making a turn, they should not have searched Bell or his car after handcuffing him near Bellevue and Michigan avenues in Chicago’s Gold Coast neighborhood…