- Mark Geinosky's federal lawsuit against the city of Chicago and eight of its police officers is back on, after the Seventh Circuit Court of Appeals on Wednesday reversed lower court's decision to throw out the case.
Calling Geinosky's allegations of harassment through two-dozen bogus parking tickets "troubling," the three-member panel remanded the case back to the district court, saying Geinosky and his lawyers sufficiently argued he was singled out by officers who wrote the tickets.
The ruling, written by Judge David F. Hamilton, said that at first blush, the case might seem like a good candidate for dismissal by the district court.
"A closer look at the alleged facts, however, reveals a disturbing pattern," Hamilton wrote. "Absent a reasonable explanation, and none has even been suggested yet, the pattern adds up to deliberate and unjustified official harassment that is actionable under the Equal Protection Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment."
And the fallout?
- Late last year, Superintendent Garry McCarthy moved to have four officers fired for their alleged involvement in the case. Two of those officers are scheduled for a hearing before the Chicago Police Board on April 30.
With the lawsuit back, guess what the outcome will be at the Board.