Latino Activists Sue Police Over Arrest While Canvassing For Obamacare
CHICAGO (CBS) -- Two young Latino men who were arrested last year while passing out information about Obamacare in a white neighborhood have filed a federal lawsuit, accusing police of racial profiling.
Four police officers arrested Kevin Tapia and Felipe Hernandez while they were canvassing in the Garfield Ridge neighborhood last March, on behalf of the Grassroots Collaborative.
Tapia and Hernandez, who were volunteers for the Brighton Park Neighborhood Council, were passing out information about enrolling in the Affordable Care Act -- President Barack Obama's signature health care law -- and telling people about the deadline to sign up for coverage, when a local resident called police to report a possible scam.
"A police squad car just approached against a one-way street, and they said 'Police, stop,' looked at us, and shouted at us, 'Get over here, put your hands in the air!'" Tapia said.
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Tapia and Hernandez claimed they were held in custody for three hours, and then charged with "soliciting unlawful business."
A few days after their arrest, police said there had been recent reports of people scamming elderly residents in the area where Tapia and Hernandez were canvassing. A local resident called police about a possible scam, and gave police a description that matched Tapia and Hernandez, police said at the time.
Joey Mogul, an attorney with the Peoples Law Office, which is representing the two young men, said police might have been justified in stopping and questioning Tapia and Hernandez, but not in arresting them and charging them with a crime.
"There was a caller who said that they were suspicious. I think that the officers could come and ask them questions in response to that, but once they saw the materials that they were passing out, and realized that they were engaging in political activity, they had to recognize that they were committing no crime," she said.
The two men have filed a federal lawsuit, accusing the officers of racial profiling.
Mogul said, although charges later were dismissed, Tapia and Hernandez fear the arrest will hurt their academic, employment, and citizenship prospects down the road.
