Illinois state lawmaker believes he was racially profiled by Chicago police

CHICAGO - An Illinois state lawmaker says Chicago police discriminated against him when he was stopped as he left a store.

Kam Buckner is a Democratic member of the Illinois House of Representatives, covering the 26th district, which includes the South Loop where he was shopping Sunday afternoon.

“I was on my way out with my purchases in the cart, when a uniformed officer stopped me. Just outside of the store’s doors,” he said.

Buckner was dressed in a hoodie, sweatpants, tennis shoes and a mask, which is mandated by Governor JB Pritzker to stop the spread of the coronavirus.

The former football player for the University of Illinois was picking up essential items. Other shoppers entered and exited the store wearing masks, but Buckner says he was the only one stopped.

“Questions about what was in my cart and questions that I thought were a little bit weird like, what do you have there?” Buckner said.

The 34-year-old says the officer wanted to see his receipt and ID, presumably to look him up for outstanding warrants.

The lawyer in Buckner kicked in and he asked the officer why he was stopped.

“His response was that a lot of people were doing a lot of things and blaming it on COVID, he couldn’t see my face but he thought I was up to something,” he said.

Governor Pritzker responded to the incident at his Tuesday press conference.

“It’s something that we are looking into. There is obviously discriminatory behavior taking place and we are going to make sure we address it,” the governor said.

CPD had no comment on this specific incident. They say all stops are based on a reasonable suspicion that a crime occurred and that claims of profiling should be reported to COPA.