Dozens file federal suit against Chicago police dept., alleging abuse at protests
CHICAGO — Chicago was still struggling with looting and violence in the wake of police protests late this spring when Amika Tendaji and Jasson Perez heard about a mellow, anti-police demonstration taking place on a Sunday in Hyde Park.
“People began saying hello to their neighbors, presumably not seeing them in a while, and just chatting,” recalled Tendaji, who brought her daughter and nephew to the protest.
But things took a turn as the demonstration wound down, she said, when police forced the crowd to leave the neighborhood in one direction when some of their cars were parked elsewhere. Soon enough, officers clashed with protesters, resulting in Tendaji getting bruised and beaten, she said.
Jasson Perez, who showed up separately to the event, said he tried to get police to stop grabbing and beating his friends with batons before he himself was beaten by officers, suffering a concussion and needing several staples to close a gash in his head.
“I was just like, man, they’re just in a mode. They’re upset about something,” Perez said of police.
He and Tendaji were among 60 plaintiffs who filed a federal lawsuit Thursday against numerous Chicago police officers, alleging they were beaten, unlawfully arrested and mistreated in other ways by cops during several of the protests throughout the city this year as part of the fallout from George Floyd’s death at the hands of police in Minnesota.
“The (Chicago Police Department) and other city agencies responded to these demonstrations with brutal, violent, and unconstitutional tactics that are clearly intended to injure, silence and intimidate plaintiffs and other protesters,” according to the more than 200page lawsuit. “These abuse tactics include beating protesters with batons — often striking them in the head; tackling and beating protesters while on the ground; using chemical agents against protesters; falsely arresting protesters; and trapping protesters in enclosed areas.”
The suit alleged that officers went after protest leaders, legal observers, medics and people recording the demonstrations “with unlawful, retaliatory and lethal force.” Police also destroyed cameras, phones, eyeglasses, and confiscated bikes, backpacks and other belongings, the suit alleged.
A Chicago police spokesman Thursday morning referred all inquiries to the city’s Law Department. A spokeswoman there said the city had not yet been served Thursday morning.
“But it is important to remember that these are allegations at this stage and not proof,” Kathleen Fieweger said in an emailed statement. “We will review the complaint thoroughly, and each allegation it contains, once we have been served and respond through the courts as appropriate.”