A West Side alderwoman said she wants her "good name" back and she's suing three Chicago police officers to make that happen.
Nearly two years ago, Ald. Sharon Dixon was pulled over while driving home from Evanston after spending the evening with friends. She said she was treated like "a dangerous, common criminal" and charged with DUI.
Days after the 2009 arrest, Dixon told reporters that she wasn't drunk, saying as proof that she didn't use the bathroom once during her seven hours at a North Side police station.
Dixon maintains her innocence in a statement released Wednesday from attorney Lawrence V. Jackowiak, saying she was falsely accused of driving under the influence.
The lawsuit -- against officers Latrice Jones, Angela Armstrong and Thomas McNichseeks accountability for "false and malicious charges," according to the statement.
"The newspapers, the radio, the television cameras -- in the process of doing their jobs -- splashed me all over the lead news stories, but the court gave me back my license and only the Chicago Tribune was there, and it wasn't a front page story. When the case was finally dismissed for good, no press was present," she said Wednesday.
"If this could happen to me, could you imagine what chance an average citizen has of overcoming such formidable odds," she said.
Dixon and her attorney said it would be up to a jury to award a compensation it sees fit.
