Top Chicago police officials on Friday, May 22, 2026, signed off on suspensions totaling 72 days for four officers after internal investigators and the city’s police watchdog concluded they improperly searched and detained people during an Aug. 11, 2024, traffic stop near Division and Sedgwick in the Near North neighborhood. The penalties close one of several probes into members of the 18th District tactical team and follow a COPA warning that the unit’s stops disproportionately targeted Black drivers.
According to WTTW News, the Civilian Office of Police Accountability found the officers violated the civil rights of three people during the Aug. 11 stop. Police leaders agreed to suspensions that add up to 72 days: Sgt. Erick Seng, 25 days; Officers Richard Rodriguez and Joseph Vecchio, 20 days each; and Officer Crystina Kittrell, 7 days. The WTTW report notes Seng had already been disciplined earlier this year and that Vecchio and Rodriguez have been stripped of their police powers amid the broader investigation.
Reporting by ABC7 Chicago states that COPA warned in a Dec. 27, 2024 letter it had received more than 50 complaints about one tactical team and found that more than 90 percent of the stops it reviewed involved Black people, even though Black residents make up roughly 6 percent of the district’s population. The memo flagged a pattern of “pretextual” stops, failures to document encounters and unprofessional conduct, and urged commanders to ensure officers follow department policy…