Protest Planned on 95th Street Over Police Racial Profiling Allegations

A protest over alleged racial profiling by area police departments is expected to march through Evergreen Park and Oak Lawn this weekend.

Erica Chriswell, a graduate student and hip hop artist, has filed a $1.5 million civil lawsuit against the Village of Oak Lawn and the Oak Lawn Police Department, alleging she was the victim of assault and racial slurs during an arrest. Chriswell, who goes by the artist name Eryka Kane, is organizing Saturday's protest.

The march is scheduled to start at 1 p.m. near the intersection of 95th Street and Western Avenue and head toward Cicero along 95th Street. Protesters will be marching on the sidewalks.

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Oak Lawn Police Division Chief Michael Kaufmann said that police would be monitoring the demonstrators on the Oak Lawn portion of the walk.

"They can walk on the sidewalk without a permit as long as they do not block access," Kaufmann said in an email to Patch.

Kaufmann further added that Chriswell pled guilty to the Dec. 2, 2009 charges of aggravated battery and aggravated fleeing or attempting to flee a peace officer. She was sentenced to two years' probation and fines, according to court records.

"All our traffic stops are reported to the [Illinois State] police," Kaufmann said. "We fall within the guidelines for our traffic stop data."

A Facebook event page for the march cites the Oak Lawn arrest and purported racial profiling by the Evergreen Park and Oak Lawn police departments as the motivation behind protest.

"We are embarking on a monumental journey that will positively change our children's lives......No More Profiling!!!!!," reads a post from Eryka Kane's Facebook page. Attempts to reach the protest organizer have been unsuccessful.

Oak Lawn's village attorney Dan Duffy, of Peterson, Johnson, Murray, confirmed that Chriswell has filed a civil lawsuit in U.S. Court against the village.

"She was convicted of aggravated battery of a police officer," Duffy said. "We made the argument that she can't sue over this incident because it would undermine the guilty plea. We've filed a motion to dismiss and are waiting to hear the court's judgement."

A spokesman for the Evergreen Park Police Department declined to comment on the march or any allegations of profiling.

Evergreen Park police drew heat following a February report from the Better Government Association and Fox 32 Chicago. They discovered that more than twice as many minority drivers, mostly black, were being stopped compared to white motorists from 2004 to 2011. While Evergreen Park officers pulled over more and more drivers, the number of whites being stopped remained largely unchanged during that time, according to the report.

Mayor James Sexton sharply denied the claims saying that "figures lie and liars figure."

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