On November 20, 2000, three Black high-school students from Peoria, IL were traveling to a holiday basketball tournament in a car driven by their assistant coach, a white male. All four were wearing dress shirts, trousers, and ties. An Illinois State Police Trooper who 'sensed that illegal drugs were hidden in the car' stopped the car along Highway 74. The officer ordered one young man, Corey A. Scott, into his patrol car and after searching him without his consent (including the insides of his pockets and shoes), used a racial slur during his interrogation. Two other officers and a drug-sniffing dog arrived to frisk Mr. Scott's companions, search the car and one student's luggage.

The ISP ruled that the complaint Mr. Scott brought against Officer Brevard was unfounded, even after a polygraph test administered by the department to Mr. Scott showed he was telling the truth. On May 8, 2002, the ACLU sued the Illinois State Police on Mr. Corey's behalf.

This is the second lawsuit the ACLU filed against the department in 8 years. In 1999, a summary judgment was awarded to the ISP in a 1994 racial profiling lawsuit where the ACLU accused it of practicing racial profiling as part of its drug interdiction program. The district court concluded that even if plaintiffs could show that a disproportionate number of minorities were stopped for traffic violations, they could not prove the claim of discriminatory treatment absent a showing that similarly situated non-minority drivers were treated differently. Since no record was kept concerning stops where no citations were issued or searches conducted, the court found that plaintiffs could not meet their burden.'

In response to the 1994 lawsuit, expert testimony introduced by lawyers representing the Illinois Police Department and makes the astounding opinion that Blacks and Hispanics are more likely to traffic drugs because they are less-educated and poorer than whites.

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