Gross Abuse of Power

It's not a new thing to see or hear or read about an officer of the law abusing his or her power. Abuse comes in all forms, verbal threats or insults, physical threats, physical acts, etc. I witnessed on such incident on the CTA (that's the Chicago Trasit Authority, which, incidentally was the original name of the band Chicago) blue line this morning on my way to work. Call me a bleeding heart, I don't really care. I consider myself compassionate. I'm a sensitive (overly sometimes) person and it bothers me to know end to see any abuse of power. Especially toward people who've done nothing wrong. I sent the following to Carole Brown, the Chairman of the CTA board, who also has a blog as well as the customer service department. I still need to send it to CTA President Frank Kruesi, which I'll do after I go to the restroom.

Dear Carole,

I am writing to report an incident of passenger abuse by one of the security checkers that occurred on the loop bound blue line at the Grand stop while the train was stopped for it's routine security check. There was a man sleeping hunched over in a seat. The security officer saw the man through the window. The security officer then boarded the train, walked up to the sleeping man and violently YANKED the back of the collar of his coat and JERKED his head up. The startled man was then told to "IF YOU'RE SLEEPING, GO HOME." The security officer then THREW the man's head back down. The passenger appeared to be indigent. I've lived in this city for a number of years and I know the CTA is not be used as a moving hotel but one cannot say that that is why this passenger was sleeping. Regardless, this was not just cause for aggressive manhandling, or verbal threats. I sleep on the train all the time as do a number of other passengers. Because I'm a young woman in professional dress I highly doubt that I'd be subject to such blatent abuse of power by an individual who's job is to protect the safety of any and all passengers.

This security officer was male, about 5'8", approximately 45-55 yrs old, and had a salt and pepper beard. The time was approximately 8:22am today September 23, 2005.

I would appreciate a response to my concerns regarding the violation of the civil rights of this passengers. If this incident is not addressed, I will pursue this matter further. If you have further questions of me, you can email me here or call

Many thanks,

Mrs. Kerri Sanford