Hall v. City of Chicago

Dist Ct. did not err in granting defendant-City’s motion for summary judgment in plaintiffs’ section 1983 action alleging that delays caused by warrant checks following police officers’ stops violated plaintiff’s 4th Amendment rights. Record showed that: (1) police officers stopped plaintiffs on street after purportedly observing plaintiffs violating panhandling ordinance; and (2) delays occurring after defendants obtained plaintiffs’ identification cards for purposes of learning if plaintiffs were subject to arrest warrants typically lasted between 4 to 7 minutes and occasionally lasted from 11 to 15 minutes. Police officers mere request for identification does not amount to seizure under 4th Amendment. Moreover, while officers’ taking of identification card to process warrant check raised potential issue as to whether reasonable person would feel free to leave scene, no 4th Amendment violation occurred, where: (1) it was uncontested that officer observed plaintiffs violating panhandling ordinance; (2) officers did not exceed permissible scope of Terry stop by running warrant check, even where warrant check was unrelated to suspected criminal activity; and (3) instant delays caused by warrant check were reasonable.