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02/23/2006:

"Gold medalist Davis suing Chicago"

CHICAGO (AP) -- Olympic gold medal speedskater Shani Davis is one of four plaintiffs suing the city of Chicago and former police superintendent Terry Hillard, claiming they were stopped and searched for illegal weapons because of their skin color.

Davis, Quincy Joyner and Damien Joyner filed a lawsuit on March 24, 2003. A fourth plaintiff, Damane Grier, was added to the lawsuit a few months later. All four are from Chicago and are black.

Harvey Grossman, the director of American Civil Liberties Union of Illinois, said an inordinate number of blacks and Latinos are stopped on the street and searched for illegal weapons, and the organization wants police to document stops.

"We've been receiving complaints about this for years and years," he said. "Why did you stop this person? State the reasonable suspicion you had. ... And we also want that data to be stored, so you can see what an officer is doing over time."
sports.yahoo.com