"A yearlong ACLU investigation uncovered the disturbing practice of officers approaching individuals who appear to be homeless in the Greektown area, forcing them into police vans and deserting them miles away," according to a news release from the American Civil Liberties Union, which filed the complaint today. The people are then forced in to vans, driven away and then deserted. “Therefore, it would be inappropriate to provide further comment without reviewing the specific allegations.” 
 
 The ACLU listed the stories of five people who said they were doing nothing illegal when they were “taken for a ride” by Detroit police. There are many more stories.” 
 
 Andrew Sheehan, 37, said it has happened to him at least four times since December 2011. On one occasion officers said they were taking Sheehan to a shelter, but instead dropped him off at the boundary between Detroit and River Rouge on Fort Street—eight miles from where he was picked up.  The following information was provided by the ACLU in a news release: 
 
 The ACLU’s letter to Detroit documents the experiences of five individuals who were doing nothing illegal, yet were subjected to this abusive and unlawful treatment on multiple occasions. Peter and Paul Jesuit Church Warming Center, said many of these people will then spend hours walking back to shelters, warming centers, and churches where they can get a hot meal.
– Detroit police are ushering homeless people out of a tourist area and leaving them miles away—in some cases outside the city itself, the ACLU alleges in a federal complaint. Officers are "approaching individuals who appear to be homeless in the Greektown area, forcing them into police vans, and deserting them miles away," the group says in a press release, citing a yearlong probe into the practice. The ACLU contends those subject to such treatment are having constitutional rights like due process violated. Police say they'll investigate, but opted not to comment further, the Detroit Free Press reports. The ACLU is calling on the Justice Department to get involved and wants the city to explicitly direct police that such practices are illegal. "Often (people are) being dropped off late at night in neighborhoods that they don’t know. Police often take any money they have out of their pockets and force them to walk back to Detroit, with no guarantee of any safety," an ACLU attorney tells WWJ Newsradio 950. An ACLU rep says the organization learned of the practice from one of the city's warming centers. CBS Detroit has the stories of five people who the ACLU says were "taken for a ride": among them, a 37-year-old who says he was once dropped off eight miles from where he was picked up.