TOP COP PUTS OFFICER SEEN IN VIDEO APPARENTLY RESTRAINING WOMAN AT BEACH ON DESK DUTY

The officer seen in a viral video restraining a woman who was walking a dog at North Avenue Beach was placed on paid desk duty Monday by Police Supt. David Brown while the agency charged with looking into police misconduct conducts its investigation.

Brown’s decision was in line with the recommendation from Civilian Office of Police Accountability, which is investigating the incident. The other option COPA recommended to Brown was to strip the officer of his police powers pending the conclusion of their probe.

Lawyers for the woman, who is Black, have called the altercation with the white officer “an obvious case of racial profiling.”

Brown wouldn’t comment on the allegation early Monday, saying only that “there was some closure of the beach that preceded this interaction. That’s the extent of what we know. We don’t have an arrest, apparently, by this officer. And we don’t fully understand because we haven’t interviewed this officer yet.”

Brown said the woman in the video hasn’t been interviewed either.

“I know it’s frustrating for the public to wait,” Brown said. “I would just ask for the public to allow COPA to complete its investigation.”

Mayor Lori Lightfoot said Monday she was “quite disturbed by what I saw” on the video.

“It looked like the woman was following the direction of the officer and leaving the beach,” the mayor said at an unrelated news conference on the first day of school.

As soon as the video came to the Chicago Police Department’s attention, the Internal Affairs Division launched an investigation, identified the officer involved and pulled “all of the relevant video,” Lightfoot said.