Lawyers in the federal civil-rights lawsuit against embattled police officer Richard Fiorito were given permission to add 16 plaintiffs to the case, bringing the number from 21 to 37. Fiorito has been accused of falsifying DUI arrestsallegedly to increase the overtime pay that comes with court testimony in those casesand harassing LGBT motorists.
Fiorito is on administrative duty in the 23rd District, which includes the Boystown area. He was taken off active duty in early October, following the release of a video showing his arrest of a motorist who appears to easily pass a DUI test.
That driver, Michael Vaughn, had his driver's license reinstated earlier this month.
More video, released last week and taken from the dashboard of Fiorito's squad car, appears to strengthen the case against him: it shows Fiorito's cruiser tailing a car as its driver looks for a parking space. Though the driver seems to be driving safely, the accompanying police reportauthored by Fioritosays that the car is "swerving from side to side" and "almost striking multiple parked vehicles."
The car's driver, Christopher Quinn, was pulled over and arrested for driving under the influence.
"He perjured himself," said Andy Thayer, whose organization Gay Liberation Network is involved in protests against Fiorito. "He wrote a written report completely variant with what's on the video tape."
Thayer added that although complaints against Fiorito have been ongoing for monthsthe first lawsuits against him were filed as early as March, and in August the 23rd District's GLBT Subcommittee passed a resolution asking that he be removed from active dutyhe continued to testify in DUI cases until last week.
At the same time that the Cook County State's Attorney's office has used Fiorito's testimony in DUI cases, the officer has invoked the 5th Amendment protection against self-incrimination in an ongoing grand jury investigation into his actions.
In a statement, State's Attorney Anita Alvarez said that given "serious questions about Fiorito's credibility," he would no longer testify in DUI cases.
Attorney Jon Erickson, who represents the plaintiffs in the federal lawsuit, said, "We congratulate [ Alvarez ] for finally doing the right thing by dismissing all pending Fiorito DUI cases, but until she indicts Fiorito, justice will not be served."