Opinion ID: 1838841
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 3

Heading: Arrest, Interrogation and Detention

Text: On March 6, plaintiff was assigned to operate a streetcar on the St. Charles Avenue line. At about 1:20 pm, as he neared the end of his shift, he brought his streetcar to the RTA facility near the corner of Willow and Carrollton. Earl Pradat, plaintiff's supervisor, boarded the streetcar and advised plaintiff that he was being relieved from duty and that the police wanted to speak with him. As plaintiff stepped off the streetcar, he was arrested, handcuffed and taken to a waiting patrol car. Plaintiff testified that once he was inside the patrol car, the arresting officers began badgering him and urging him to confess to having stolen fares so that he could avoid going to prison. Plaintiff also testified that the police tried to pressure him into giving them the names of other streetcar operators who had stolen fares. Plaintiff protested his innocence and said that he did not know of any other drivers who had stolen fares. The officers then took him to the Transit Police Unit office at the RTA facility on Canal Street, where, according to plaintiff, they questioned him for one or two hours and tried (unsuccessfully) to pressure him into admitting his guilt and implicating other employees. He was then taken to central lock-up, where he was booked, strip searched and placed in detention. Several hours later, his wife was able to post his bail and he was released from confinement. The arresting officers denied that they attempted to harass or intimidate plaintiff in any fashion after the arrest. They acknowledged taking him to the Canal Street office for interrogation, but claim that they did so only because plaintiff indicated to them that he desired to make a voluntary statement. It was after plaintiff apparently changed his mind about making a statement, police said, that he was taken to central lock-up and booked.