Fullilove v. City Of Chicago

CourtDistrict Court, N.D. Illinois
DecidedFebruary 12, 2025
Docket1:24-cv-02875
StatusUnknown

This text of Fullilove v. City Of Chicago (Fullilove v. City Of Chicago) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering District Court, N.D. Illinois primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Fullilove v. City Of Chicago, (N.D. Ill. 2025).

Opinion

IN THE UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT FOR THE NORTHERN DISTRICT OF ILLINOIS EASTERN DIVISION

HENRY FULLILOVE, ) ) Plaintiff, ) Case No. 24 C 2875 ) v. ) ) Judge Robert W. Gettleman CITY OF CHICAGO, RICHARD PINA, in his ) individual capacity; RYAN SCHAFFER, in his ) individual capacity; DUBLIN BAR & GRILL, ) INC., d/b/a Dublin’s Bar & Grill, ) ) Defendants. )

MEMORANDUM OPINION AND ORDER

Plaintiff Henry Fullilove sued defendants the City of Chicago, two Chicago Police Officers, Richard Pina and Ryan Schaffer (the “Officers”) in their individual capacities, and Dublin’s Bar & Grill. He alleges that on April 11, 2022, he tried to enter Dublin’s, was refused entry, and was then unlawfully arrested and maliciously prosecuted for disorderly conduct outside of Dublin’s. His complaint asserts four counts: a federal claim under 42 U.S.C. § 1983 against the Officers for restriction of movement, false arrest, and malicious prosecution in violation of the Fourth Amendment (Count I); an Illinois state law claim for malicious prosecution against all defendants (Count II); an Illinois state law claim for a hate crime against Pina, the City, and Dublin’s (Count III); and an Illinois state law claim for indemnification against the City (Count IV). The City and the Officers moved to dismiss all four counts. Because plaintiff did not oppose dismissal of Counts II and III, the court granted the motion on those counts as to the City and Officers. But plaintiff did oppose dismissal on Counts I and IV. And because the City and Officers attached and relied on extrinsic materials—namely, the officers’ body worn camera (“BWC”) footage and a witness’s signed complaint for disorderly conduct—to argue that the court should dismiss those counts based on the Officers having probable cause to arrest plaintiff, the court notified the parties that it was going to convert the motion to dismiss on those counts

into a Rule 56 motion for summary judgment. In doing so, the court allowed the parties to supplement the record as they saw fit. To that end, the court set a first deadline for the plaintiff to file an additional brief on the motion and a second deadline thereafter for the City and the Officers to file any response thereto. Plaintiff did not file any additional brief by its deadline. Because the City and the Officers did, the motion is now ripe. For the below reasons, the court grants the motion for summary judgment on Counts I and IV. BACKGROUND Plaintiff’s complaint In his complaint, plaintiff alleges the following facts. Plaintiff is an African American male. On April 11, 2022, he and his friend (also an African American male) tried to enter

Dublin’s to get food and drinks, but Dublin’s bouncer (who was white) refused them. When plaintiff asked why, the bouncer became verbally aggressive and ordered them to get away from the door, telling them they were not welcome—all while continuing to allow white people into the bar. When he then complained about this discriminatory act, the bouncer became more aggressive, cursed, and adopted a fighting stance. Plaintiff then spotted a Chicago police officer sitting in his patrol car across the street (later identified as Pina) and approached him to let him know what happened. In response, Pina gave plaintiff a menacing look, flicked a cigarette in plaintiff’s direction, swore at Plaintiff and

2 ordered him to go away, and seemed to lean toward plaintiff holding what appeared to be his gun holster. Pina then drove off and plaintiff went back to Dublin’s to speak to a manager. At that point, other Chicago police officers arrived at the scene, led by Sergeant Schaffer. Schaffer was rude and verbally aggressive toward him and aggressively scolded him, ordering

him to go home. Plaintiff insisted that he had done nothing wrong and, in front of the bouncer, informed Schaffer of what happened. The bouncer nodded in approval and confirmed what plaintiff had said (while at the same time laughing at plaintiff), and Schaffer then ordered other officers to arrest and charge plaintiff with disorderly conduct. While being arrested, plaintiff saw that Pina had returned and was standing outside his vehicle watching Pina with a menacing look. Plaintiff was arrested, charged with disorderly conduct, and ultimately spent the night in jail. The City later dismissed the charge on July 15, 2022. Plaintiff later filed a complaint against the Officers, which was then escalated to COPA (the Civilian Office of Police Accountability). COPA released a Final Summary Report, which stated that investigators retrieved Pina’s BWC, which captured Pina’s interaction with plaintiff,

showing that, after driving away from Plaintiff, Pina called an unknown individual. The report quotes from the BWC footage in which Pina tells the unknown individual to “lock” the door and to “stop talking to these fucking n*****s.” Pina received a 180-day suspension for departmental violations, including using the N-word. At no point before or during the police encounter, did plaintiff or his friend engage in conduct that would have given the Officers probable cause to arrest him. Instead, Pina was working with Schaffer and the Dublin’s bouncer to “have him arrested without probable cause and maliciously prosecuted; all because of his race as an African American.”

3 The City and Officers’ Statement of Facts In their now-summary judgment filings, the City and the Officers tell a very different story—one that is supported with BWC footage, a witness’s signed complaint, and affidavits from the Officers. In the early morning hours of April 11, plaintiff tried to enter Dublin’s and

was turned away by the doorman in an alleged act of racial discrimination. Plaintiff then walked over to Pina, who was seated in his police car near Dublin’s. Plaintiff told Pina that he was denied entry into the bar and demanded that Pina intervene to force Dublin’s to let him in. Pina explained that he could not do so and drove away. At around 2:40 a.m., Schaffer responded to a request for a supervisor near Dublin’s and saw plaintiff standing on a street corner about a half block from the bar. At around this time, Pina also returned to the scene. The BWC footage shows that, at about 2:42 a.m., Schaffer began speaking with plaintiff, who was clearly agitated, acting inebriated, and requesting to be taken to jail. The footage shows that Schaffer tried to explain to plaintiff that he could not force the bar to let plaintiff in

and tried to assist plaintiff with filing a police report that plaintiff suggested he’d like to make. While Schaffer patiently attempted to assist plaintiff, plaintiff proceeded to yell, swear at the officers, act erratically, request to be taken to jail, and accuse other officers at the scene of not taking his complaint seriously. At one point, he got so worked up and close to Schaffer trying to explain his situation, that he spit in Schaffer’s face as he yelled. Plaintiff suggested (if not admitted) to the Officers that he had been drinking. Schaffer also told plaintiff that he could smell the alcohol on plaintiff and that Schaffer believed that plaintiff was drunk.

4 After nearly 10 minutes of plaintiff ranting, plaintiff and the Officers walked to the front entrance of Dublin’s, where Schaffer confirmed with the door staff that plaintiff was not allowed entry. Plaintiff then become more aggressive and erratic—demanding the name of the door staff, knocking on Dublin’s window, yelling at staff from outside, screaming and swearing at the

Officers, blocking the doorway, repeatedly demanding to be taken to jail, touching officer Schaffer, almost falling over, and refusing to leave until he obtained the name of the manager.

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Fullilove v. City Of Chicago, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/fullilove-v-city-of-chicago-ilnd-2025.