# Williams v. City Of Chicago

> District Court, N.D. Illinois · September 29, 2023

URL: https://www.frixlaw.com/law-library/cases/10645273

## Case

- **Court:** District Court, N.D. Illinois
- **Decided:** September 29, 2023
- **Opinion:** 100trialcourt
- **Cited by:** 0 later opinions in the Frix Law Library

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## Opinion text

UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT
NORTHERN DISTRICT OF ILLINOIS
EASTERN DIVISION
Michael Williams, et al.,

Plaintiffs, No. 22 CV 3773

v.
Judge Lindsay C. Jenkins
City of Chicago, et al.,

Defendants.

MEMORANDUM OPINION AND ORDER
Plaintiffs Michael Williams, Lucy Parsons Lab (“LPL”), Daniel Ortiz, and
Derick Scruggs (collectively, “Plaintiffs”) initiated this lawsuit against the City of
Chicago (the “City”), former Chicago Police Department Superintendent David Brown
(“Brown”), and twenty-one individual Chicago police officers, (collectively, “Individual
Defendants”).1 [Dkt. 38.] The Amended Complaint, which spans 122 pages, 692
numbered paragraphs, and 24 counts, centers around the Chicago Police
Department’s use of ShotSpotter, an acoustic gunshot detection system that Plaintiffs
allege regularly leads officers to make “scores of illegal stops and arrests,” in violation
of the Fourth and Fourteenth Amendments. [Id. at ¶¶ 1, 5.]
The City seeks to dismiss portions of the Amended Complaint pursuant to
Federal Rules of Civil Procedure 12(b)(1) and 12(b)(6). [Dkt. 51.] The Individual
Defendants also seek to dismiss most of Plaintiffs Williams, Ortiz and Scruggs’

1 The Individual Defendants are: Nicholas Evangelides, Dale Potter Jr., Michael
Kociolek, Scott Reiff, Brian Roney, Juan Perez, Marc LaPadula, Scott Brownley, Joseph
Merkel, Carol Maresso, Nestor De Jesus, Salvatore Aloisio, Robert Costello, Michael
Dougherty, David Magana, Eduardo Almanza, Harsimran Powar, Michael Matias, Fidel
Legorreta, Theodore Andrews Jr., Sarah Keckley, and “Jane Doe.”
individual claims pursuant to Rule 12(b)(6). [Dkt. 54.] For the reasons stated below,
the City’s motion to dismiss is granted as to the claims against Superintendent
Brown,2 but is otherwise denied. The Individual Defendants’ motion to dismiss is
granted in part and denied in part.
I. Background

The Court takes Plaintiffs’ well-pleaded factual allegations as true for purposes
of ruling on the motions to dismiss. See Smith v. First Hosp. Lab’ys, Inc., 77 F.4th
603, 607 (7th Cir. 2023). This case concerns ShotSpotter, an acoustical surveillance
system that purports to detect, record, locate, and alert law enforcement to potential
gunfire in real-time. [See Dkt. 38 ¶¶ 69–103.] According to the Amended Complaint,
ShotSpotter technology has not undergone significant testing and is both unreliable
and ineffective because it can mistakenly identify non-gunshots as gunshots and

often fails to detect actual gunfire. [See id. at ¶¶ 1, 4, 45.] Moreover, ShotSpotter’s
technology can provide an imprecise location for the detected sound, giving police
officers and investigators a false sense of accuracy regarding the supposed location of
the gunshot. [See id.]. According to Plaintiffs, CPD officers respond to approximately
100 daily alerts, 90% of which are false alarms. [Id. at ¶ 3.] Plaintiffs contend that
the City deliberately deployed ShotSpotter devices in communities of color, and that

CPD officers knowingly misuse the flawed technology to engage in discriminatory and
unconstitutional policing practices against individuals who happen to be in the
vicinity of an alert. [See id. at ¶¶ 1–5, 10–21.]

2 Plaintiffs have agreed to voluntarily dismiss their claims against Defendant
Superintendent David Brown. [Dkt. 63 at 4, n.5.]
LPL and the individual Plaintiffs initiated this action on behalf of themselves
and a class of similarly situated individuals seeking declaratory and injunctive relief
that would end the City’s use of ShotSpotter technology. Plaintiffs also seek
compensatory and punitive damages for the alleged misconduct. LPL is a non-profit
organization based in Chicago that is focused on investigating, exposing, and

educating the public about police surveillance and the alleged harms it causes people
of color and other marginalized communities. [Id. at ¶¶ 22, 31–33.] LPL alleges that
it has spent years investigating surveillance technologies, that it has spent
significant resources to counteract the City’s use of this technology, and that it
endeavors to end the City’s use of ShotSpotter to protect its members and
constituencies from ShotSpotter’s harmful consequences. [Id.]

The Amended Complaint also describes harm allegedly suffered by the three
individual Plaintiffs. Those allegations are summarized as follows:
• Michael Williams (“Williams”) is a 65-year-old Black man from the
South Side of Chicago. On May 31, 2020, Williams was driving in his car
with the front windows rolled down when a bullet struck the passenger
who was riding in the front seat of the vehicle, killing him. [Dkt. 38 at
¶¶ 225–241.] CPD investigated the shooting and “pulled surveillance

video footage near the time and place of the ShotSpotter alert,” though
none of the video footage depicted the shooting itself. [Id. at ¶ 266.] On
August 28, 2020, Williams was arrested and charged with first-degree
murder based on officers’ claims that ShotSpotter allegedly indicated
the fatal gunshot came from inside Williams’ car. Williams spent 11
months in Cook County Jail until the Cook County State’s Attorney’s
Office (“CCSAO”) dismissed the case. [Id. at ¶¶ 6–10, 23, 26–27, 225–
348.]
• Daniel Ortiz (“Ortiz”) is a Chicago resident of Puerto Rican descent. On
April 19, 2021, Ortiz was stopped, frisked, handcuffed, and interrogated

outside a laundromat by CPD officers who were responding to a
ShotSpotter alert. After he was handcuffed, officers searched Ortiz’s car
without probable cause and found marijuana along with a bottle of
prescription drugs. [Id. at ¶¶ 383–385.] Ortiz was transported to a police
station and spent a night in jail. The charges against Ortiz were
dismissed the following day. [Id. at ¶¶ 12–13, 23, 28, 349–409.]

• Derick Scruggs (“Scruggs”) is a Black man who resides in the South
Shore neighborhood in Chicago. On July 18, 2022, a ShotSpotter alert
sent CPD officers to Scruggs’s job in Englewood, where he worked as a
licensed armed security guard. Officers immediately stopped, detained,
and interrogated Scruggs as a shooting suspect. After a lengthy
interrogation, the officers released Scruggs because there was no actual
evidence to corroborate any alleged gun-related activity. The next day,

officers returned to Scruggs’s workplace to continue their investigation,
unlawfully detained him, and eventually arrested him for failing to
carry his Permanent Employee Registration Card. The charges were
ultimately dismissed by CCSAO two months later. [Id. at ¶¶ 14–15, 29-
30, 410–502.]
In response to the Amended Complaint, all Defendants have filed motions to
dismiss.
II. Legal Standards
A motion to dismiss pursuant to Rule 12(b)(1) challenges the Court’s subject-
matter jurisdiction. A Rule12(b)(1) motion is construed as a “facial attack[ ] on the

complaint, contesting whether the allegations, taken as true, support standing.”
Choice v. Kohn Law Firm, S.C., 77 4th 636, 638 (7th Cir. 2023) (citing Prairie Rivers
Network v. Dynegy Midwest Generation, LLC, 2 F.4th 1002, 1007 (7th Cir. 2021)).
Well-pleaded facts are accepted as true, and the Court draws all reasonable
inferences in Plaintiffs’ favor. Id. Under the familiar standing test, a plaintiff must
show that (1) “he suffered an injury in fact that is concrete, particularized, and actual
or imminent”; (2) “the injury was likely caused by [the defendant]”; and (3) “the injury

would likely be redressed by judicial relief.” TransUnion LLC v. Ramirez, 141 S. Ct.
2190, 2203 (2021) (citation omitted). When a plaintiff seeks injunctive relief, he must
“demonstrate that he faces a real and immediate threat of future injury; a past injury
alone is insufficient to establish standing for purposes of prospective injunctive
relief.” Carello v. Aurora Policemen Credit Union, 930 F.3d 830, 833 (7th Cir. 2019)
(cleaned up).

A motion to dismiss under Rule 12(b)(6) tests the legal sufficiency of the
plaintiff’s claims. “To survive a motion to dismiss under Rule 12(b)(6), plaintiff’s
complaint must allege facts which, when taken as true, ‘plausibly suggest that the
plaintiff has a right to relief, raising that possibility above a speculative level.’”
Cochran v. Ill. State Toll Highway Auth., 828 F.3d 597, 599 (7th Cir. 2016) (quoting
EEOC v. Concentra Health Servs., Inc., 496 F.3d 773, 776 (7th Cir. 2007)). The Court
“accept[s] all well-pleaded facts as true and draw all reasonable inferences in
plaintiff’s favor.” Id. at 600 (citing Tamayo v. Blagojevich, 526 F.3d 1074, 1081 (7th
Cir. 2008)).
III. Analysis

A. The City’s Motion to Dismiss
Plaintiffs bring three claims against the City. Count One brings a Monell claim
under the Fourth and Fourteen Amendments and Count Two brings a Monell claim
under the Equal Protection Clause. Count Three claims a violation of the Illinois Civil
Rights Act of 2003. [Dkt. 38.] A Monell claim challenges the “execution of a
government’s policy or custom, whether made by its lawmakers or by those whose
edicts or acts may fairly be said to represent official policy.” Monell v. Dep’t of Social

Services of City of New York, 436 U.S. 658, 694 (2018).
The City challenges standing on three grounds: (1) whether LPL has alleged
an injury sufficient to establish organizational standing; (2) whether LPL has
associational standing; and (3) whether the individual Plaintiffs’ allegations are
sufficient to seek injunctive relief. [Dkt. 51 at 12–17.]3
1. LPL’s Standing
An organization can satisfy the standing requirements of Article III in two
ways: either “the organization can claim that it suffered an injury in its own right or,

alternatively, it can assert ‘standing solely as the representative of its members.’”

3 Citations to docket filings refer to the electronic pagination provided by CM/ECF,
which may not be consistent with page numbers in the underlying documents.
Students for Fair Admission, Inc. v. President and Fellows of Harvard College, 600
U.S. ----, 143 S. Ct. 2141, 2157-59 (2023) (citing Warth v. Seldin, 422 U.S. 490, 511
(1975)). To show that it has organizational standing, LPL must “show that [it is]
under an actual or imminent threat of suffering a concrete and particularized ‘injury
in fact’; that this injury is fairly traceable to the defendant’s conduct; and that it is

likely that a favorable judicial decision will prevent or redress the injury.” Common
Cause Indiana v. Lawson, 937 F.3d 944, 949 (7th Cir. 2019) (citing Summers v. Earth
Island Inst., 555 U.S. 488, 493 (2009)).
LPL has organizational standing to challenge the City’s use of ShotSpotter. In
the Amended Complaint, LPL describes itself as “a Chicago-based non-profit
membership organization that is focused on investigating, exposing, and educating

the public about police surveillance and the harms it causes, particularly for people
of color and other marginalized communities.” [Dkt. 38, at ¶ 22.] LPL alleges it has
spent years “investigating surveillance technologies and worked to end the City of
Chicago’s use of ShotSpotter and to protect its members and constituencies from
ShotSpotter’s harmful consequences.” [Id.] As evidence of its injury-in-fact, LPL
alleges that it had to spend significant time and money to counteract the City’s
reliance on ShotSpotter, including devoting significant time to trainings, submitting

FOIA requests, leadership of a local coalition, and more, which in turn “divert[ed]
resources from the organization’s focus on other police accountability issues.” [Id., at
¶ 33.] LPL also alleges that this work “diverted resources away from ongoing
organizational development projects, setting back its strategic planning and
fundraising. [Id.]
The City urges the Court to conclude there is no standing because LPL has
merely alleged “expenditure of resources in furtherance of its stated mission rather
than pleading an actual injury,” so its decision to “challenge this particular practice
does not constitute an injury.” [Dkt. 66 at 3–4 (emphasis in original)]. But the
concrete diversion of resources from other aspects of its mission is sufficient to show

LPL’s standing. See Common Cause, 937 F.3d at 951–955. (“Any work to undo a
frustrated mission is, by definition, something in furtherance of that mission.”)
Common Cause explained that a voting rights organization had organizational
standing when it expended resources in combatting an amendment to a voter
registration law, even though the organization’s efforts to do so fulfilled its existing
mission. Indeed, the organization would be expected to take on work consistent with

that mission such that standing flowed from the diversion of resources. Id. at 951–
55.
Here, LPL has alleged concrete steps sufficient to confer organizational
standing. The Amended Complaint alleges that the City’s extension of the
ShotSpotter contract has required LPL to “research[ ] the use of police technologies
and police tactics,” “engage[ ] in public education and advocacy,” “file[ ] and litigate[
] public record requests,” and “publish[ ] research, educational materials, and

advocacy materials,” among other things. [Id. ¶ 31.] These expenditures “diverted
resources away from ongoing organizational development projects,” including
strategic planning and fundraising. [Id. ¶ 33.] This is sufficient for organizational-
standing purposes.4
2. Individual Plaintiffs’ Standing to Seek Injunctive Relief
The City also challenges Plaintiffs Ortiz and Scruggs’s standing to pursue
equitable relief as to Counts One, Two and Three. To establish standing for

prospective injunctive relief, “a plaintiff must face a real and immediate threat of
future injury as opposed to a threat that is merely conjectural or hypothetical.” Simic
v. City of Chicago, 851 F.3d 734, 738 (7th Cir. 2017) (citing City of Los Angeles v.
Lyons, 461 U.S. 95, 102 (1983)). Allegations that convey but a “possible future injury
are not sufficient,” Clapper v. Amnesty Int’l, 568 U.S. 398, 409 (2013) (internal
quotations omitted), because that makes any injury merely “conjectural or
hypothetical.” Friends of the Earth, Inc. v. Laidlaw Envtl. Servs. (TOC), Inc., 528 U.S.

167, 180 (2000).
Ortiz and Scruggs maintain they have alleged facts sufficient to pursue their
Fourth Amendment claims for injunctive relief because there is a sufficient risk of
future harm given the high rates of ShotSpotter activations in neighborhoods where
they live and work. Plaintiffs point to allegations in the Amended Complaint that
Scruggs lives in South Shore and works in Englewood as an armed security guard;

that he carries a licensed firearm between those neighborhoods in connection with
that work; and that these neighborhoods and others have some of the highest rates

4 Because the Court concludes that LPL has suffered an injury in its own right, it need
not address whether LPL also has associational standing. Students for Fair Admission,143
S. Ct. at 2157-59 (an organization can establish standing through organizational or
associational standing).
of ShotSpotter activations. [Dkt. 38 at ¶¶ 410–411, 501–502]. Likewise, Ortiz alleges
he “regularly travels and goes about daily business within parts of the City of Chicago
that are within ShotSpotter’s footprint. He is thus likely to be falsely targeted again
by CPD officers, solely based on the fact that he is in a high-alert ShotSpotter area of
the City.” [Id. ¶ 409.] Plaintiffs also emphasize that Scruggs and Ortiz were not

engaged in unlawful conduct when they were stopped by CPD in 2021 and 2022, and
“could be stopped again anytime in the future.” [Dkt. 63 at 7.]
For its part, the City maintains that “allegations of two discrete, past incidents
do not establish ‘ongoing violations,’” sufficient to establish standing because Ortiz
and Scruggs’s “personal circumstances do not place them in substantial risk of a real
and immediate threat of future harm.” [Dkt. 66 at 7.] The City relies on Lyons, where

the Supreme Court held that “past exposure to illegal conduct does not in itself show
a present case or controversy regarding injunctive relief,” if it is “unaccompanied by
any continuing, present adverse effects.” 461 U.S. at 102. In Lyons, the Supreme
Court concluded that a plaintiff’s allegations regarding police officers subjecting him
to an illegal chokehold during a traffic stop prompted by the plaintiff’s unlawful
conduct did not establish an imminent threat based on the assumption that the
plaintiff would not commit any such misconduct in the future. Id. at 97–98.

The allegations here are distinguishable from Lyons for the reasons explained
in Smith v. City of Chicago, 143 F. Supp. 3d 741 (N.D. Ill. 2015). In Smith, the court
concluded that plaintiffs had standing to seek equitable relief for alleged repeated
unconstitutional stops and frisks, rejecting the City’s argument that there was no
standing because the claims were only “based on the CPD’s past misconduct.” Id. The
court in Smith distinguished Lyons, noting that plaintiffs had “alleged that they were
engaging in innocent, lawful conduct—not unlawful conduct—prior to the alleged
suspicionless stops and/or frisks.” Id. at 752. This included everyday activities such
as “walking home from the grocery store, standing in front of their own homes or the
homes of friends,” or taking photos. Id.

Plaintiffs Scruggs and Ortiz do the same here. Each allege they have been
stopped by CPD in the past based on ShotSpotter alerts. [Dkt. 38 at 69–92.] And both
sufficiently allege that they have and will continue to engage in ordinary everyday
activities where they live and work—neighborhoods with high rates of ShotSpotter
activations—resulting in an ongoing and substantial risk of a future police encounter.
[Id. at 165–167.]

The City emphasizes that the conclusion in Smith was also based on those
plaintiffs having alleged “ongoing constitutional violations pursuant to an
unconstitutional policy or practice,” together with past instances of alleged
unconstitutional stops and frisks. 143 F. Supp. 3d at 752. True, but so does the
Amended Complaint in this case. Plaintiffs allege that the City has an
unconstitutional policy and practice of permitting police officers to rely on
ShotSpotter as a basis for making Terry stops and arrests. [Dkt. 38 at 143–164.] For

example, Plaintiffs allege the City maintains a practice and express policy that
“encourages officers to treat individuals found in the vicinity of ShotSpotter alerts as
suspects, and to subject them to investigatory stops on that basis;” that the City’s
“practices and express policies with respect to ShotSpotter alerts violate the [City’s]
own [reasonable articulable suspicion] policy;” that the City’s policies require and
encourage CPD to rely on ShotSpotter for decisionmaking, including whether to
conduct an investigatory stop; and that the City’s “practices and policies—as well as
its omission of policymaking regarding ShotSpotter’s unreliability—lead officers to
engage in large numbers of illegal, unnecessary, and frightening interactions with
residents who live in areas wired with ShotSpotter sensors.” [Id.] These are sufficient

allegations of an ongoing policy that, coupled with alleged past violations, support a
claim for injunctive relief. Scruggs v. McAleenan, No. 18 C 2109, 2019 WL 4034622,
at *3 (N.D. Ill. Aug. 27, 2019); Barrios v. City of Chicago, 15 C 2648, 2016 WL 164414
at *9 (N.D. Ill. Jan. 14, 2016) (plaintiff who alleged a single instance of past
misconduct had standing to seek injunctive relief in challenging to the City’s vehicle
impoundment policy); Hvorcik v. Sheahan, 870 F. Supp. 864, 869 (N.D. Ill. 1994). As

pled, the individual Plaintiffs have standing to seek injunctive relief as to Count One
because there is “a sufficient likelihood that they will again be wronged in a similar
way.” Lyons, 461 U.S. at 111.
For these same reasons, the City’s standing challenge as to Counts Two and
Three fare no better. The City acknowledges that the Lyons analysis “equally applies”
to all the claims for equitable relief, including its Equal Protection and ICRA claims.
[Dkt. 66 at 7.] Given the Court’s conclusion that Ortiz and Scruggs have

demonstrated standing to seek injunctive relief, the motion to dismiss is denied.
B. Individual Defendants’ Motion to Dismiss
The Individual Defendants also seek dismissal of Counts Four through Twelve
brought by Williams; Counts Fourteen, Fifteen and Sixteen brought by Ortiz; and
Counts Eighteen through Twenty-Two brought by Scruggs.
1. Williams
a. Group Pleading
First, the Individual Defendants argue that all individual counts brought by
Williams (Counts Four, Five, Six, Seven, Nine, Ten, Eleven and Twelve) are deficient
because they use “group pleading,” referring to the Individual Defendants only
“generally as ‘defendants’ or ‘officers,’” and then referring to them collectively

throughout the body of the complaint. [Dkt. 54 at 2–8.] Williams responds that this
argument focuses too narrowly on the language contained in the Counts toward the
end of the Amended Complaint, while ignoring “detailed allegations in the body of
the document” pertaining to Williams that are incorporated by reference. [Dkt. 65 at
31–33.]
It is well established that 42 U.S.C. § 1983 lawsuits against individuals

“require personal involvement in the constitutional deprivation to support a viable
claim.” Gonzales v. McHenry County, Illinois, 40 F.4th 824, 828 (7th Cir. 2022); see
also Johnson v. Rimmer, 936 F.3d 695, 710 (7th Cir. 2019). “To establish personal
liability, the plaintiff must show that the relevant official ‘caused the constitutional
deprivation at issue’ or ‘acquiesced in some demonstrable way in the alleged
constitutional violation.’” Gonzalez, 40 F.4th at 828 (quoting Palmer v. Marion
County, 327 F.3d 588, 594 (7th Cir. 2003)). Despite the personal involvement

requirement, “[g]roup pleading, while not ideal, is not categorically impermissible”
for a § 1983 claim. Fulton v. Bartik, 547 F. Supp. 3d 799, 810 (N.D. Ill. 2021); see also
Dukes v. Washburn, 600 F. Supp. 3d 885, 898 (N.D. Ill. 2022). A complaint survives
if any group pleadings, taken along with any individual pleadings, create the
plausible inference that each defendant is liable. Martinez v. Wexford Health Servs.,
Inc., 18-C-50164, 2021 WL 1546429, at *3 (N.D. Ill. Apr. 20, 2021). Stated differently,
group pleading is permissible where, “reading the allegations sensibly and as a whole,
there is no genuine uncertainty regarding who is responsible for what.” Engel v.
Buchan, 710 F.3d 698, 710 (7th Cir. 2013)).

The Amended Complaint is sufficient to satisfy this minimal standard. First,
Williams’s allegations are directed at a specific subset of the Individual Defendants,
dubbed the “Williams Defendant Officers.” [Dkt. 38, at ¶ 36.] The Amended
Complaint dedicates nearly 20 pages and more than 100 paragraphs to describing the
events pertaining to him beginning on May 31, 2020 and the investigation that
followed, starting with Detectives Kociolek, Evangelides, Roney and Potter. It alleges

that Officer Brownley and Detective Evangelides used a ShotSpotter report to focus
in on the area of E. 63rd and S. Stony Island, where the May 31, 2020 shooting
occurred. It alleges that Sergeant Perez, along with Detectives Evangelides, Potter,
and Reiff interrogated Williams and were responsible for placing him under arrest,
along with Officers Magana and Almanza. It alleges that Officer Nunez and
Lieutenant Dougherty authored the arrest report; that Officers Merkel, Maresso, De
Jesus, LaPadula and Aloisio worked to obtain approval for murder charges; and that

Lieutenant Costello formally approved a first-degree murder charge. [Dkt 38 at ¶¶
229–297.] Reading the complaint’s allegations “sensibly and as a whole,” the Court is
not left with “genuine uncertainty regarding who is responsible for what.” Engel, 710
F.3d at 710.
b. Count Four: Unlawful Seizure
In Count Four, Williams brings a claim against the Williams Defendant
Officers for false arrest in violation of the Fourth Amendment.5
“The Fourth Amendment prohibits government officials from detaining a
person in the absence of probable cause,” which “can happen when the police hold

someone without any reason before the formal onset of a criminal proceeding” and
“also can occur when legal process itself goes wrong—when, for example, a judge’s
probable-cause determination is predicated solely on a police officer’s false
statements.” Manuel v. City of Joliet, 580 U.S. at 367; see also Rainsberger v. Benner,
913 F.3d 640, 647 (7th Cir. 2019) (a violation of the Fourth Amendment may be
premised on “intentionally or recklessly [ ] false statements in a warrant application
and those false statements were material to a finding of probable cause.”) Although

the Seventh Circuit “has not provided elements for a Fourth Amendment unlawful
pretrial detention claim,” “[t]he consensus among district courts” is that a plaintiff
must show that the defendants (1) caused (2) a seizure of the plaintiff pursuant to
legal process unsupported by probable cause, and (3) criminal proceedings terminated
in the plaintiff’s favor. Bahena v. Kennedy, 2021 WL 8153974, at *6 (N.D. Ill. Oct. 25,
2021) (collecting cases).

5 The caption in Counts Four and Eighteen also cite the Fourteenth Amendment as a
basis for the false arrest claims. [Dkt. 38 at 103, 115.] Such a claim only sounds in the Fourth
Amendment. “Manuel I makes clear that the Fourth Amendment, not the Due Process
Clause, governs a claim for wrongful pretrial detention.” Lewis v. City of Chicago, 914 F.3d
472, 475 (7th Cir. 2019) (citing Manuel v. City of Joliet, 580 U.S. 357, 365-69 (2017)); see also
Patrick v. City of Chicago, 974 F.3d 824, 834 (7th Cir. 2020).
The existence of probable cause is an “absolute defense” to a Fourth
Amendment claim. See Norris v. Serrato, 761 Fed. Appx. 612, 615 (7th Cir. 2019)
(citation omitted) (holding that “probable cause is an absolute defense to claims under
§ 1983 against police officers for an allegedly unreasonable seizure, whether a false
arrest or a wrongful pretrial detention.”). “Probable cause to arrest exists if the

totality of the circumstances known to the officer at the time of the arrest would
warrant a reasonable person in believing that the arrestee had committed, was
committing, or was about to commit a crime.” Gutierrez v. Kermon, 722 F.3d 1003,
1008 (7th Cir. 2013). “The officers’ subjective intentions are irrelevant so long as there
was probable cause to detain him for any crime.” United States v. Brown, 973 F.3d
667, 706 (7th Cir. 2020). In other words, “[w]hat matters, and all that matters, is

whether the facts known to the arresting officers at the time they acted supported
probable cause to arrest.” White v. Hefel, 875 F.3d 350, 357 (7th Cir. 2017).
Williams argues that he was detained without probable cause based on
“knowingly false allegations” from the Williams Defendant Officers. [Dkt. 65 at 16.]
He points to allegations in the Amended Complaint where he asserts that the
relevant officers seized on a knowingly inaccurate and imprecise ShotSpotter alert,
and ignored or failed to follow-up on other evidence (including the surveillance video

footage), which suggested the “strong possibility that the shots came from [a different]
vehicle.” [Dkt. 38 at ¶¶ 255–256, 259–260, 264, 268.] All of this, Williams alleges,
resulted in insufficient probable cause to support his detention. [Dkt. 38 at 266–269.]
At this stage, the Individual Defendants have not established as a matter of
law that there was probable cause to support Williams’s arrest. The Court simply
cannot determine from the Amended Complaint alone whether the facts and
circumstances known at the time would have led reasonably prudent officers to
believe that there was probable cause. The parties vigorously dispute who knew what
and when, the importance (or lack thereof) of the surveillance video, and whether
other types of evidence available to the Officers were consistent with probable cause.

But this is beside the point. For now, it is enough that Williams plausibly alleges that
he had not committed a crime, was nevertheless detained, and that Defendants
lacked probable cause to support his detention. Defendants may be able to
demonstrate otherwise on a more complete record, but at the dismissal stage,
Williams’s unlawful seizure claim may proceed.
c. Count Five: Unlawful Seizure Based on Legal
Process
Count Five alleges unlawful seizure pursuant to legal process. The Individual
Defendants seek dismissal of this claim as duplicative, arguing that it is based on the
same set of facts as Counts Four and Six. [Dkt. 54 at 10.] Williams maintains that
each of these counts are distinct: Count Four is based on his false arrest on August

28, 2020; Count Five is based on his detention pursuant to legal process starting on
August 30, 2020 until the state dismissed the charges on July 23, 2021; and Count
Six is based on malicious prosecution from that same time period. [Dkt. 65 at 17–18.]
Counts Four and Five raise distinct claims. As discussed above, the Supreme
Court has recognized a difference between “pre-legal-process[ ] arrest” and “post-legal
process[ ] pretrial detention.” Manuel, 580 U.S. at 367. The Fourth Amendment

governs both, and both are cognizable. Jones v. York, 34 F.4th 550, 563–64 (7th Cir.
2022) (quoting Lewis v. City of Chicago, 914 F.3d 472, 474 (7th Cir. 2019) (detention
without probable cause violates the Fourth Amendment “when it precedes, but also
when it follows, the state of legal process in a criminal case.’”).
The Individual Defendants also seek dismissal of Count Five based on the
probable cause determinations by a judge and later a Grand Jury. [Dkt. 54 at 10.] A
plaintiff may plead a violation of his Fourth Amendment rights where he alleges that

he was wrongfully detained pretrial based on falsified evidence, even if the
prosecution does not result in his conviction. Rainsberger, 913 F.3d at 647. To state
such a Fourth Amendment claim, a plaintiff must plead that “the defendants (1)
caused (2) a seizure of the plaintiff pursuant to legal process unsupported by probable
cause, and (3) criminal proceedings terminated in plaintiff’s favor.” Walker v. City of
Chicago, No. 20 C 7209, 2022 WL 375515, at *4 (N.D. Ill. Feb. 8, 2022); Moore v. City

of Chicago, No. 19 C 3902, 2020 WL 3077565, at *3 (N.D. Ill. June 10, 2020) (“There
is no probable cause—and detention is unlawful—when ‘a judge’s probable-cause
determination is predicated solely on a police officer's false statements’ or
‘fabrications.’”). Here, Williams alleges, among other things, that Potter presented
false and misleading information at the probable cause hearing by testifying that the
gunshot came from inside the vehicle, and that Evangelides falsely testified to the
grand jury about the meaning of the ShotSpotter evidence. [Dkt. 38 at ¶¶ 271–273,

291, 294, 300, 307.] The unlawful seizure claim is sufficiently pled and may proceed.
d. Counts Six and Ten: Malicious Prosecution
Counts Six and Ten bring malicious prosecution claims under federal and state
law, respectively. There is “no such thing as a constitutional right not to be prosecuted
without probable cause.” Anderson v. City of Rockford, 932 F.3d 494, 512 (7th Cir.
2019) (quoting Manuel, 903 F.3d at 670); Howlett v. Hack, 794 F.3d 721, 727 (7th Cir.
2019). Count Six is dismissed.6
A claim for malicious prosecution under Illinois law requires proof that: “(1)
[the plaintiff] was subjected to judicial proceedings; (2) for which there was no
probable cause; (3) the defendants instituted or continued the proceedings

maliciously; (4) the proceedings were terminated in the plaintiff’s favor; and (5) there
was an injury.” Martinez v. City of Chicago, 900 F.3d 838, 849 (7th Cir. 2018); Beaman
v. Freesmeyer, 451 Ill. Dec. 310, 183 N.E.3d 767, 782 (2021).
As to the first element, the Individual Defendants argue that Williams has
failed to adequately plead that the relevant officers “commenced and continued the
criminal proceeding,” since the State’s Attorney’s Office obtained an indictment that

initiated court proceedings. [Dkt. 54 at 11.] Although prosecutors decide whether to
bring a case, liability extends to “all persons who played a significant role in causing
the prosecution of the plaintiff.” Beaman, 2019 IL 122654, ¶ 43 (quoting Frye v.
O’Neill, 166 Ill. App. 3d 963, 975 (4th Dist. 1988)). Where the claim is against the
arresting officer, an indictment typically breaks the chain of causation, so the
plaintiff must show some “postarrest action which influenced the prosecutor’s
decision to indict.” Colbert v. City of Chicago, 851 F.3d 649, 655 (7th Cir. 2017)

(quoting Snodderly v. R.U.F.F. Drug Enforcement Task Force, 239 F.3d 892, 902 (7th
Cir. 2001)). For example, a law-enforcement officer might be liable if he knowingly
provides misinformation to the prosecutor, conceals exculpatory information, engages

6 This disposition resolves the Individual Defendants’ argument that Count Six must
be dismissed because it is duplicative of Count Five.
in wrongful or bad-faith conduct instrumental in the initiation of the prosecution, or
participates in the case so actively as to amount to advice and cooperation. Beaman,
2019 IL 122654, ¶¶ 44–45.
Williams’s response brief tacitly acknowledges that the allegations in the
Amended Complaint are insufficient in this regard. Instead, through his response

brief, he seeks to amend his pleadings with the following allegation: “On August 29,
2020, the Defendant Officers asked Cook County prosecutors to approve first degree
murder charges against Mr. Williams. On information and belief, the Defendant
Officers made false and misleading statements to prosecutors about evidence in the
case, and prosecutors approved charges based on those false and misleading
statements.” [Dkt. 65 at 21.] But a complaint may not be amended by briefing in

response to a motion to dismiss. Thomason v. Nachtrieb, 888 F.2d 1202, 1205 (7th
Cir. 1989). Because this allegation is necessary to sufficiently plead a malicious
prosecution claim and it is plainly missing, the motion to dismiss Count Ten is
granted, but the Court grants Williams leave to replead.
The remaining elements of Count Ten are easily disposed of at the pleadings
stage. As for the second and third elements, for the reasons already discussed, the
Individual Defendants have not established as a matter of law that there was

probable cause to support Williams’s arrest. Nor can the Court conclude from the
pleadings alone whether the Williams Defendant Officers acted with malice. And
Williams has sufficiently alleged that the murder charges against him were
dismissed in a manner indicative of innocence. [Dkt. 38 at 302, 304, 305.] It may be
that “the State’s nolle was not based on the belief Plaintiff was innocent,” as the
Individual Defendants maintain. [Dkt. 54 at 21.] But considering that the complaint
alleges facts suggesting that probable cause to bring the charges was lacking in the
first place, Williams’s allegation that the charges were “terminated in his favor,” are
enough at the dismissal stage. [Dkt. 38 at ¶ 575.] Woodard v. American Family Mut.
Ins. Co., 950 F. Supp. 1382, 1387 (N.D. Ill. 1997) (at motion to dismiss stage, plaintiffs

were not required to “plead facts which, if proven, would show that the dismissal was
entered for reasons consistent with his or her innocence.”).
e. Counts Seven and Eleven: Conspiracy
Counts Seven and Eleven allege federal and state law conspiracy claims. To
state a claim for civil conspiracy under Illinois law, “a plaintiff must allege an
agreement and a tortious act committed in furtherance of that agreement.” McClure
v. Owens Corning Fiberglas Corp., 188 Ill.2d 102, 133 (1999). For a § 1983 conspiracy

claim, the plaintiff must allege that “(1) the individuals reached an agreement to
deprive him of his constitutional rights, and (2) overt acts in furtherance actually
deprived him of those rights.” Beaman v. Freesmeyer, 776 F.3d 500, 510 (7th Cir.
2015). For a claimed conspiracy to survive a motion to dismiss, it must be plausibly
pled through allegations of fact that generally take one of two forms: “(1) direct
allegations of an agreement, like an admission by a defendant that the parties

conspired; or (2) more often, circumstantial allegations of an agreement, which are
claimed facts that collectively give rise to a plausible inference that an agreement
existed.” Alarm Detection Sys., Inc. v. Vill. of Schaumburg, 930 F.3d 812, 826–27 (7th
Cir. 2019).
The Amended Complaint takes the second approach and sufficiently pleads
facts that plausibly suggest a circumstantial agreement. While Williams does not
plead the exact dates of the conspiracy, he pleads the approximate timing—
defendants took steps in furtherance of the alleged conspiracy beginning shortly
before his arrest and continuing until the charges were dismissed. From these

allegations, it is plausible to infer that the Williams Defendant Officers intended to
work in concert to ensure Williams’ conviction.7
f. Count Eight: Supervisory Liability Claim
Count Eight raises a supervisory liability claim against Defendants Dougherty
and Costello. Under § 1983, “a government official is only liable for his or her own
misconduct.” Taylor v. Ways, 999 F.3d 478, 493 (7th Cir. 2021). A supervisor is liable
for a subordinate’s misconduct resulting in constitutional violation only if the

supervisor was personally involved. Id. “Personal involvement in a subordinate's
constitutional violation requires supervisors to know about the conduct and facilitate
it, approve it, condone it, or turn a blind eye for fear of what they might see.” Id. at
494.
Williams’s response points primarily to the allegations that Dougherty and
Costello expressly approved of the actions of others, namely that, after Officer Nunez

7 As to the City’s other argument, courts in this district have expressed doubt about the
applicability of the intracorporate conspiracy doctrine as an impediment to a civil conspiracy
claim. Walker v. City of Chicago, 559 F. Supp. 3d 747, 752–53 (N.D. Ill. 2021); Haliw v. City
of S. Elgin, 19 C 01515, 2020 WL 1304697, at *4 (N.D. Ill. Mar. 18, 2020) (holding that the
Seventh Circuit has not expressly spoken on the doctrine). Based on the Court’s research, the
Seventh Circuit has not held that the intracorporate conspiracy doctrine bars § 1983 claims
against police officers who conspire to violate an individual’s constitutional rights.
prepared an arrest report on August 28, 2020, Dougherty “approved probable cause
at 10:00 p.m. the same evening.” [Dkt. 38 at ¶ 288.] The Amended Complaint also
alleges that on August 30, 2020, Officers “obtained approval to formally file charges
of first-degree murder against Mr. Williams,” and that Costello “gave final approval
of the charges that day.” [Id. at ¶ 293.] It alleges that Dougherty and Costello “were

personally involved in the arrest, charging, and prolonged detention of Mr. Williams,
as well as the CPD’s review of his case. They knew or should have known of their
subordinates’ unconstitutional actions and related misconduct in the case.” [Id. at ¶¶
593–594.] These allegations, which the Court must accept as true, sufficiently allege
personal involvement.
g. Count Nine: Failure to Intervene
The Individual Defendants argue for dismissal of Count Nine, a § 1983 failure

to intervene claim. To prove failure to intervene under § 1983, Williams must prove
that the defendants knew that a constitutional violation was committed and had a
realistic opportunity to prevent it. Gill v. City of Milwaukee, 850 F.3d 335, 342 (7th
Cir. 2017). Because the underlying constitutional claims have survived, this
dependent claim is not subject to dismissal. Nor are the allegations too vague and
unspecific given the detail provided about the relevant officers’ alleged actions. [Dkt.

38 at ¶¶ 225–348.]
h. Count Twelve: Intentional Infliction of Emotion
Distress
Williams concedes that this claim is time barred. [Dkt. 65 at 33, n.5.] Count
Twelve is dismissed.
2. Ortiz
a. Count Fourteen: Unconstitutional Terry Stop
In Count Fourteen, Ortiz brings a Fourth Amendment unlawful seizure claim.
A brief detention to investigate a crime constitutes a seizure under the Fourth
Amendment and therefore, the detention must be reasonable. Whren v. United States,
517 U.S. 806, 809–10 (1996); United States v. Wilbourn, 799 F.3d 900, 908 (7th Cir.

2015). Officers may carry out a Terry stop only when they “have a reasonable
suspicion, grounded in specific and articulable facts” that an individual has
committed a felony or is about to commit a crime. United States v. Hensley, 469 U.S.
221, 229 (1985).
The Individual Defendants make a half-hearted argument for dismissal of this
claim, suggesting that Ortiz’s “evasive behavior or [ ] other observations the officers

may have made,” might have supplied reasonable suspicion to justify the stop. [Dkt.
54 at 32.] But Ortiz alleges that the “only reason” for the stop was a “false and
unreliable ShotSpotter alert,” which plausibly asserts there was no reasonable
suspicion. [Dkt. 38 at ¶ 340.] Defendants may be able to demonstrate that there was
reasonable suspicion for the stop on a more complete record, but at this stage, Ortiz’s
allegations allow this claim to proceed.
b. Remaining Claims
The remaining claims brought by Ortiz are his failure to intervene claim in

Count Fifteen and his conspiracy claim in Count Sixteen. As discussed above, because
Ortiz’s underlying constitutional claim has survived, his failure to intervene claim is
not subject to dismissal. Nor are the allegations too vague and unspecific to warrant
dismissal. [Dkt. 38 at ¶¶ 357–390.]
The Individual Defendants make even less of an effort to explain why Ortiz’s
conspiracy claim raised in Count Sixteen must be dismissed. Their argument consists
of exactly one sentence, repeated verbatim in the reply brief. [Dkt. 54 at 33; 70 at 12–

13.] (“Similarly, the Conspiracy claim asserted in Count Sixteen should also be
dismissed as it is vague, conclusory and lacks an underlying constitutional
violation.”). As such, the Individual Defendants’ argument is undeveloped and fails
to provide a basis for dismissal. Crespo v. Colvin, 824 F.3d 667, 674 (7th Cir. 2016)
(citation omitted) (explaining that parties forfeit arguments that are perfunctory,
undeveloped, and unsupported by pertinent authority). In any event, the Amended

Complaint sufficiently alleges circumstantial evidence of an agreement giving rise to
an inference that an agreement existed. Alarm Detection Sys., 930 F.3d at 826–27.
3. Scruggs
a. Counts Seventeen and Eighteen: Unconstitutional
Terry Stop and False Arrest
Counts Seventeen and Eighteen arise out of Scruggs’ encounters with certain
of the Individual Defendants on July 18 and 19, 2022. As the Court understands it,
Count Seventeen alleges a Fourth Amendment unlawful seizure claim based on
Scruggs’s detention on July 18, and again on July 19, 2022. Count Eighteen alleges a
Fourth Amendment false arrest claim based only on Scruggs’s arrest on July 18,
2022.8 The Individual Defendants seek dismissal of the false arrest claim to the
extent that it is duplicative of the unlawful detention claim, arguing that both claims
involve the same operative facts and allege the same injury. [Dkt. 70 at 14.]
It is true that these counts have substantial overlap. Both are based on the
same set of events on July 18—Scruggs was subject to a Terry stop and during the

encounter he was placed in handcuffs and was not free to leave. Ordinarily, this
transforms a Terry stop into a full custodial arrest. Mwangangi v. Nielsen, 48 F.4th
816, 826 (7th Cir. 2022) (observing that the “use of handcuffs substantially
aggravates the intrusiveness of a Terry stop and, as a meaningful restraint on
freedom of movement, is normally associated with arrest”); United States v. Bullock,
632 F.3d 1004, 1016 (7th Cir. 2011) (use of certain police restraint techniques such

as “using handcuffs, placing suspects in police cars, drawing weapons, and other
measures of force more traditionally associated with arrests,” may become “so
intrusive” as to “become[ ] tantamount to an arrest requiring probable cause” (cleaned
up)). But the Individual Defendants fail to identify any Seventh Circuit case law
suggesting that a false arrest claim must be dismissed as duplicative of an unlawful
detention claim when both claims are based on the same set of facts. Seventh Circuit
and courts within its jurisdiction have recognized the viability of both claims even

when an alleged false arrest arises out of events that also form the basis of the
unlawful seizure. See, e.g., Mwangangi, 48 F.4th at 826 (evaluating plaintiff’s

8 Plaintiffs’ response brief states that “[w]ith respect to the encounter [on] July 19,
Plaintiff does not contend that his pretextual misdemeanor arrest (for not carrying his
Permanent Employee Registration Card) was illegal; he only contends that the Terry stop
that preceded that arrest was unconstitutional.” [Dkt. 65 at 38 (emphasis in original).]
unlawful seizure claim as distinct from his false arrest claim, all of which arose from
a single encounter with police). At this stage, Scruggs’s unlawful seizure claim and
false arrest claim may proceed.
b. Count Twenty-One: State Law False Arrest
Count Twenty-One alleges a claim for false arrest under Illinois law. To

establish a false arrest claim under Illinois law, a plaintiff must prove he “was
restrained or arrested by the defendant, and that the defendant acted without having
reasonable grounds to believe that an offense was committed by the plaintiff.”
Meebrey v. Marshall Field & Co., Inc., 139 Ill.2d 455, 474 (1990). A false arrest case
fails if the arrest was supported by probable cause. Stokes v. Bd. of Educ. of the City
of Chicago, 599 F.3d 617, 626 (7th Cir. 2010).
In his response brief, Scruggs states that Count Twenty-One is predicated on

“(1) the investigatory stop on July 18, 2022, that subsequently rose to the level of an
arrest, and (2) the investigatory stop the following day, July 19, 2022, up until the
point where the officers found probable cause to determine” Scruggs had committed
the misdemeanor offense for working without his PERC card. [Dkt. 65 at 41.] With
this clarification, the false arrest claim can proceed. Scruggs has alleged that the
“Officers lacked probable cause to search, detain, or arrest Mr. Scruggs,” and “lacked

reasonable suspicion to detain him for questioning or to conduct a pat down,” on July
18 [see Dkt. 38 at ¶ 443], and on July 19 [see Dkt. 38 at ¶ 468].
c. Remaining Claims
The remaining claims brought by Scruggs are his failure to intervene claim in
Count Nineteen and his federal and state law conspiracy claims in Counts Twenty
and Twenty-Two. These claims survive because the underlying constitutional claims
have survived, and because Scruggs has sufficiently alleged circumstantial evidence
of an agreement beginning with the events on July 18 and continuing into the
following day. [Dkt. 38 at 4 413—488.]
4, Qualified Immunity
Finally, the Court declines to dismiss Plaintiffs’ claims based on qualified
immunity. See Alvarado v. Litscher, 267 F.3d 648, 651 (7th Cir. 2001) (“[A] complaint
is generally not dismissed under Rule 12(b)(6) on qualified immunity grounds.”).
“Because an immunity defense usually depends on the facts of the case,” and because
plaintiffs are “not required initially to plead factual allegations that anticipate and
overcome a defense of qualified immunity,” dismissal at the pleading stage is typically
inappropriate. Id. (quoting Jacobs v. City of Chi., 215 F.3d 758, n.3 (7th Cir. 2000)).
IV. Conclusion
The City’s Motion to Dismiss [Dkt. 51] is granted as to former Superintendent
Brown. The motion is otherwise denied. The Individual Defendants’ Motion to
Dismiss [Dkt. 54] is granted in part and denied in part. Counts Six and Twelve are
dismissed with prejudice; Count Ten is dismissed with leave to replead. The Motion
is otherwise denied.
Enter: 22-cv-3773
Date: September 29, 2023 aS

Lindsay Jenkins
United States District Judge

28

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Source: Frix Law Library, https://www.frixlaw.com/law-library/cases/10645273. Public record. Not legal advice.