Cicero Police Department Sued by Transgender Woman Alleging Harassment

Details: Category: LGBT Issues; Published on Sunday, 18 March 2012 18:46; Written by Lara Landis; Hits: 673

A transgender woman in Cicero Illinois has sued the local police department alleging harassment. Officers stopped Bianca Feliciano on the 1400 Block of Cicero and apprehended her on suspicions of prostitution. They took the young woman into custody and would not accept state-issued ID that identified her as a woman. Officers said they thought the ID Feliciano held was fraudulent.

Officers Scott Harris and Jose Calderon were named in the lawsuit filed on the sixth of last month. Cicero's police department eventually held her on tobacco possession by a minor and unlawful possession of a weapon. The weapon, found in Feliciano's purse, was a sock with a rock stuffed inside.

“You are not female, you have a dick between your legs,” is alleged to be said by one member of the Cicero Police Department. Male members of the police department subjected her to a strip search.

Cicero Police department policy requires female employees to search female inmates and male employees to search male inmates. A spokesperson for the town said the officers acted on the best information they had available at the time.

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Transgender Woman Sues Cicero Police Alleging Harassment