Joliet police face federal civil rights lawsuit for frisking a 12-year-old girl
Joliet Police body-worn camera video shows an officer patting down a child. The 12-year-old was a passenger in a vehicle pulled over for not having lights on. Now, that young girl's mother is suing the Joliet PD for violation of her daughter's civil rights.
What the videos show
On February 18, 2024, just after 7:30 p.m. It was dark and cold outside. Joliet police pull over an SUV for not having its lights on. A 20-year-old woman was driving. Her 12-year-old sister was sitting in the passenger seat holding her phone.
Two officers made the stop. One walks up to the driver's window and asks for the driver's license and insurance. She provided her license, but said she doesn't have insurance on her. A few minutes later, officers determined the car's registration was suspended, so they had to tow it.
The same officer approaches the driver's window a second time, asking that she and the young passenger step out of the vehicle. They do. It's now 7:44 p.m.
By now, a third officer, Daniel Avila, arrives on the scene. He's at the passenger door. When the 12-year-old girl gets out of the car still holding her phone, the officer immediately starts frisking her.
Her adult sister is now behind the vehicle, asking officers, "Can I ask why you patted down a minor?"
Officer Avila responds, "It's just policy, that's all. We're just making sure there's no weapons or anything like that."
The sisters call their mother, and the oldest tells her, "They patted [my sister] down, and not even me. Like, that don't even make sense."
"And, a man patted her down, too," she adds.
Within minutes mom Nayocka Jones gets to the scene.
"First thing, I looked at my daughter. She was cold. She didn't even have a coat," she told CBS News Chicago.
The officers who made the stop discussed that it was cold, but decided to search the SUV for inventory purposes first while the two sisters stood outside in low- to mid-40-degree weather, the youngest in short sleeves. After nearly 10 minutes the youngest was allowed back in the car to grab a cover-up.
It's now almost 7:54 p.m., and Jones is extremely angry.
"Why the f*** did you pat my daughter down? She's 12," she asks Officer Avila.
She then asks for a white shirt to come to the scene. That's a supervisor, a sergeant.
One of the officers who made the traffic stop, Officer Charles Moore, then speaks with Jones and tells her a man can pat a 12-year-old female down, and adds, "We don't need a parent to pat down somebody. A pat down is for weapons. Can a 12-year-old carry a weapon?"
On scene, Jones responds, "So, y'all let him pat my 12-year-old daughter down?"
Officer Moore replies, "I'm letting you know that a man can pat down a female. A man can pat down a child."
By 8:05 p.m., Sgt. Robert Mau arrives on the scene and told Jones, "If the issue is a male patting down a female, that is not against the law. That is not against policy. It is preferred, in practice, but it is not required."
As for the pat-down of a passenger who's a minor, Sgt. Mau told Jones, "I'm not saying that it's correct, okay? I'm not," and added, "In my opinion, was it maybe a mistake? Yeah."
Jones went to the Joliet Police Department the next day and filed a complaint claiming officers had no probable cause to search her 12-year-old daughter and called the pat-down "unreasonable."
Joliet police history
At the time of the traffic stop and pat down, the Joliet Police Department was under investigation by the Illinois Attorney General for "underlying systemic issues that affect the Department's ability to deliver constitutional and lawful police services."
The Joliet Police Department was aware of the investigation, which began in 2021, as more than 100 current and former officers were interviewed. AG investigators also observed trainings and went on ridealongs.
The findings and recommendations were released in December 2024, 10 months after the stop-and-frisk incident involving Jones' daughter.
Among the findings were:
- The JPD uses unreasonable force in violation of the Fourth Amendment of the U.S. Constitution.
- The department's policing practices discriminate against Black people and raise concerns that the department is discriminating against Latino people in violation of the Illinois Human Rights Act (IHRA) and the Illinois Civil Rights Act (ICRA)
- Failures in the department's accountability systems have directly contributed to patterns of unconstitutional and unlawful policing
The report goes on to state that "persistent deficiencies" were also found in JPD's policies, training, and supervision that have "contributed to these problems and enabled them to continue."
That AG investigation was spurred by a whistleblower revealing details about the death of a man in police custody that CBS News Chicago reported on in 2020, 2021, and 2024.
Officer history
The officer who patted down the preteen in February 2024 is Ofc. Daniel Avila. He was hired by JPD in December 2022.
Four days after the pat-down incident, he received a Notice of Counseling by the same Sgt. Mau who responded to the scene on the 18th.
"It was determined that no reasonable suspicion that the passenger was in possession of a weapon or posed a danger to you or the other officers involved," the notice said.
"I don't think the law is and should not be that when there's just a routine traffic stop that a 12-year-old gets pulled out of a car and searched." said Jones' attorney, Victor Henderson of The Cochran Firm Chicago.
Ofc. Avila's notice goes on to say his action was in violation of JPD policy.
It warns the officer "that future violations of any nature may result in discipline up to and including a recommendation for your termination as a Joliet Police Officer."
The lawsuit
Late Wednesday, Henderson filed the federal civil rights violation lawsuit, alleging violations of the Fourth and Fourteenth Amendments.
The lawsuit calls the pat-down of the 12-year-old an "unlawful police search of the child during a routine traffic stop."
It notes the child was not suspected of any crime, was ordered out of the vehicle, and subjected to a pat down without any legal justification.