Darnell Smith, Darren Nathan, Gregory Davis, Jeff Coleman, Phillip Overton and Marque Ross filed a complaint Monday against the city, also naming Police Supt. Garry McCarthy and 14 “unknown Chicago Police officers” as defendants.

The six men are represented by Romanucci & Blandin LLC and The Gregory Law Firm. They are seeking class-action status for the lawsuit, claiming “hundreds of thousands of people are stopped or stopped and frisked each year by the CPD without reasonable, articulable suspicion of criminal conduct.”

The lawsuit also claims CPD officers use race — not reasonable suspicion — in deciding whom to stop and frisk.

“Our chief goal is to ensure that everyone in every neighborhood enjoys the same sense of safety, and the best way to achieve that goal is working with the communities we serve,” police spokesman Martin Maloney said in a statement. “That’s why community policing and building trust with residents is the foundation of our policing philosophy.

“People should only be stopped based on crime data and crime information — nothing else. That is why we continue to work with our officers and those in training to ensure the values of this department are reflected in the work we do each day.”

–Sun-Times