By Matt Simonette

Staff writer

A south suburban resident has a filed a federal lawsuit against the city of Markham and three of its police officers, alleging that he was subjected to anti-gay harassment when his home was raided by police Memorial Day weekend.

Frankie Brown, 47, was in his home in Markham when he said area police entered without announcing themselves May 31.

“I was using the bathroom and I heard a ‘bang’ at my front door,” Brown said. When the police finally did announce themselves and said they had a search warrant, he came out of the bathroom and the officers, with guns drawn, told him to get down on the floor.

Brown said the police arrived under the pretenses of a drug raid.

“Where’s the fuckin’ drugs?” he was asked repeatedly.

He was handcuffed and placed in a chair outside the front door of his house and then asked, “Ain’t you a fag? Ain’t you a fag and ain’t you got HIV?”

Brown answered that he wouldn’t say anything without a lawyer. The officer responded, “What’s a fuckin’ fag like you need with a lawyer?” and went to his bathroom and checked his medication.

When the officer returned, having checked Brown’s medicine cabinet, he said, “Yeah, that fag’s got AIDS.”

They began mocking Brown further, taking a picture of some male relatives off his wall and passing it around, asking each other, “Don’t they look gay?”

By this time, the proceedings had attracted the attention of Brown’s neighbors, who did not know he was gay. The officers, according to Brown, held up the picture as well as a gay porn tape they had found for all to see.

“You should have thought about all that shit before you became a fag,” he was told.

When he tried to move the chair, the suit alleges, the officers moved it even more prominently in front of the house. They then aimed a police spotlight on Brown, the picture and video. He said he sat in that position for about an hour while police continued to look though the house.

Brown lives with his nephew, who did not know that his uncle had HIV. The police proceeded to make even more lewd remarks about their relationship.

Officers never did recover any drugs in Brown’s home. Brown said that neighborhood “snitches” are usually paid to say they know that someplace has drugs.

“Tell (police) that two or three times, then they can get a warrant,” he added.

He said that an officer told him that they had “really messed up this raid” and offered to let him go if he admitted he flushed the drugs. Brown refused and was taken to police headquarters where he was held for 17 hours. No charges were filed and he has had no contact with the police since.

Brown also alleges that about $150 in cash was taken and not returned.

He said that he had dealt with Markham police only twice—once when a window in his home was broken and another when he accidentally set off his burglar alarm. But he knew who the officers were because he sees them every day. Police harassment in his neighborhood is common.

“They just target anyone they want to,” Brown said.

The suit asks for unspecified damages and alleges that the officers, among other charges, violated Brown’s Fourth Amendment rights, conspired to deprive him of his rights, unlawfully detained him and committed hate crimes during his detention.

Brown said he filed the suit “just to get the awareness out there (about) what they’re doing and to have them stop.” He said he owns the home and can’t move anytime soon.

His life has changed considerably since the raid. These days he’s more withdrawn, though he said his neighbors and family have been supportive.

“I mostly stay to myself. If it weren’t for my family, I don’t know what I’d do,” Brown said.