CHICAGO SEEKS PROBE AFTER SUSPECT DIES

CHICAGO - A Chicago police superintendent called Friday for
an investigation into the death of a suspected drug dealer, the third
person killed in scuffles with police this month that have prompted
protests against police brutality.

The deaths have placed the city in the center of a national debate
over the use of deadly force by police, and have attracted the
attention of civil rights activists Rev. Jesse Jackson and Rev. Al
Sharpton.

A police spokesman confirmed that Supt. Terry Hillard asked the
state's attorney's office to investigate the death of 31-year-old
Gregory Riley, who died Monday night after he fell onto a sidewalk
during a struggle with officers.

Two unarmed motorists were shot and killed by police during routine
traffic stops earlier this month, sparking protests and triggering an
internal police investigation. Protesters charge the shootings were
racially motivated. Both victims were black, as were the officers who
shot them.

While some groups have said the incidents can't be racially motivated
because the police involved were also black, leaders of Jackson's
Rainbow/PUSH Coalition said that fact only strengthens the argument
that police -- regardless of their skin color -- target black people.

The shootings in Chicago and a brutal beating and sexual assault of a
Haitian immigrant by New York officers have raised concerns about
police brutality and racial ``profiling.'' Profiling refers to
targeting minorities for traffic stops and other enforcement actions
aimed at finding evidence of crime.

Last week, President Clinton ordered federal law authorities to keep
track of the race, gender and ethnicity of people they stop and
search, saying police should target people because of their illegal
conduct and not their skin color.