Background
In 2022, the Center for Protest Law & Litigation and counsel Melinda Power of Chicago’s West Town Law Office filed a lawsuit in U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Illinois against the Dolton Police Department for violating the constitutional rights of a racial justice protestor.
The protestor, Shabbir Manjee, was falsely arrested by the police in Dolton, Illinois on September 1, 2021, at a demonstration protesting the murder of Alexis Wilson, a 19-year-old Black woman who was shot seven times and killed by Dolton police.
The Dolton police acted to silence the protestors challenging racist police violence, continuously forced protestors away from City Hall and an outdoor public meeting that Dolton’s mayor was attending, and then unlawfully arrested Mr. Manjee and others for their free speech activities.
After police falsely arrested two other protestors, including one on a bullhorn, Mr. Manjee picked up the bullhorn and called one officer a “fascist pig” and another officer a “fucking pig.” He was promptly arrested.
“My First Amendment rights were violated. We were there to demand justice for Alexis Wilson who was wrongfully killed by the Dolton Police Department and were met with blockades and cops who abused their power. We will get justice,” Shabbir Manjee said.
“The police sought to evade accountability for the murder of Alexis Wilson and used their power of arrest to silence community opposition and punish those who dared challenge their sense of impunity,” Mara Verheyden-Hilliard, constitutional rights lawyer and executive director of the Center for Protest Law & Litigation at the Partnership for Civil Justice Fund, stated.
Legal Information
Manjee v. Village of Dolton et al., United States District Court for the Northern District of Illinois | Case No.1:22-cv-04640
Manjee (Dolton) Complaint – 2022