https://www.thedailybeast.com/illino...d-raid-lawsuit
Exactly what is the point of these raids? They're raiding as though they're looking for a cartel leader, I recall a case where an elderly man was killed because an "informant" suspected drugs, no proof of drugs, just suspected, and they raided the house killing an 80+ year old man for nothing. It seems out of the western nations America is the only one that uses military tactics for no fucking reason.An Illinois mother filed a lawsuit on Thursday accusing police officers of “terrorizing” innocent children after her unarmed, 12-year-old son was shot in his bed with an assault rifle during a pre-dawn raid on their home.
The lawsuit alleges that nearly two dozen Country Club Hills and Richton Park SWAT officers entered Crystal Worship’s home in May with exploding flash-grenades and automatic rifles to execute a search warrant intended for her boyfriend. During the raid, her black son, Amir, was allegedly shot by a white officer as he sat on his bed with his hands in the air and suffered a shattered kneecap.
“There is a silent epidemic of trauma being perpetrated upon the children and families of color by Chicago and South Suburban police barreling into the wrong homes, handcuffing innocent adults, holding guns on children, handcuffing children, trashing their homes, refusing to show warrants, and screaming dehumanizing commands,” Al Hofeld Jr., the family’s attorney, said in a press release announcing the lawsuit.
“Now, children are being shot in their beds,” he added.
The lawsuit, which was filed in the Circuit Court of Cook County on Thursday, names the city of County Club Hills, the village of Richton Park, and several police officers as defendants. The family is seeking $50,000 in damages for alleged negligence, willful and wanton conduct, assault, battery, and false imprisonment.
On May 26, 2019, officers dressed in “army fatigues with black cloth covering their faces and wearing goggles” entered the family’s home at about 5 a.m. while Crystal Worship and her three sons—Amir, 13-year-old Eric, and 18-year-old Robert—were asleep, according to the lawsuit. The court documents allege the officers “battered open the two entry doors and set off between two and five flash-bang grenades,” while executing a search warrant for Crystal’s boyfriend.
The boyfriend, Mitchell Thurnam, was arrested and charged with drug possession in a case that was dropped weeks later.
Once inside the house, the lawsuit alleges, SWAT officers went to the children’s bedroom and shouted “commands at them” while holding their assault rifles.
“The children were terrified they were about to be killed,” the lawsuit states.
One officer allegedly continued pointing his firearm directly at Amir, who was shirtless and sitting at the edge of his bed with his hands in the air, even after the room had been cleared. After asking his age, the officer “pulled him up and off of his bed and told him to sit on his brother’s bed... and to put a shirt one,” the lawsuit alleges.
Thirty seconds later, another officer entered the room and allegedly told Amir to “put his shoes on” but then snatched the child’s shoes away when he tried to follow his orders. The officer then “asked which pair of shoes in the room were his” and examined one of the shoes with a flashlight, the lawsuit says.
While handing the shoe back to Amir and trying to put his flashlight away in his vest, “the officer quickly moved his right hand back to the handle and trigger of his rifle, grabbing it and firing it,” the lawsuit states.
After the officer shot Amir in the knee, shattering his kneecap, he allegedly “covered his badge with black tape and covered his body camera.”
“Mom, they shot me,” Amir started to yell, according to the documents. “I can’t move it.”
As Amir started screaming, Crystal Worship asked officers in the next room if they were “shooting” the children, the lawsuit says. Officers allegedly refused to tell her what happened and “lied to her and told her they shot someone walking past outside.”
The lawsuit also alleges Eric heard his brother being shot while another officer pointed an assault rifle at him. He was handcuffed and placed in a squad car alone for an hour before officers held him at the station for five hours, according to the documents.
Amir Worship was transported to the hospital after the bullet “entered his joint and partially exited the back of his leg on the right side”—an injury that required surgery, the lawsuit states.
The boy was initially hospitalized for four days after the surgery, and later returned after he “developed complications from infection” which included a high fever, blurred vision, and blacking out twice, the family says.
“According to an orthopedic doctor, Amir will not be able to play any sports again, will have difficulty in physical education, will walk with a limp, and will have difficulty walking and running for the rest of his life,” the lawsuit states.
A spokesperson for the Country Club Hills Police Department declined to comment on Thursday’s lawsuit, citing an ongoing investigation with the Illinois State Police. Richton Park Police did not immediately respond to The Daily Beast’s requests for comment.
Another event I want to highlight is this:
https://www.thedailybeast.com/youre-...mpa-as-he-dies
Nice to see that officers still are above the law. If they think he is unconscious why the fuck are they still restraining a now unconscious man in this way? In a way that is already controversial because of the issues that can arise?Handcuffed and pinned to the ground on the side of the road, Tony Timpa begged Dallas police officers more than two dozen times for help before he fell unconscious and died, according to newly released body-camera footage.
“You’re gonna kill me! You’re gonna kill me! You’re gonna kill me!” he continuously yelled.
In the footage, officers can be heard mocking the 32-year-old Dallas man—who called authorities for help in 2016 after taking drugs and forgetting his schizophrenia medication—for several minutes. When cops finally loaded him into an ambulance, he was already dead.
“You will see how long it is that it takes for them to realize he’s not doing anything,” Geoff Henley, Timpa’s family attorney, said Wednesday.
The body-camera footage, first obtained Tuesday by The Dallas Morning News, reveals the gut-wrenching minutes leading up to Timpa’s August 2016 death while in police custody. The officers involved were initially indicted in 2017 for misdemeanor deadly conduct, but prosecutors dismissed all charges against them two years later, saying all three men did not act “recklessly.”
at 5:15 an officer says I hope I didn't kill him AND THEN LAUGHS ABOUT IT
On August 10, 2016, Timpa called police from an adult video store parking lot about 10 minutes outside of Dallas for help, saying he was off of his prescription schizophrenia medication and high on cocaine. Before Dallas police arrived, Timpa was handcuffed by security guards for attempting to run into traffic.
According to police reports, Timpa’s “aggressive and combative” behavior forced officers to keep him restrained. The video shows Timpa pleading for help and clearly struggling as he’s held down by police.
One of the officers can be seen pinning Timpa face-down on the ground with his knee in his back in what’s called the “prone position,” a restraining technique that’s highly controversial.In the first minute of the footage, Timpa wiggles around near the curb while struggling to sit up. Police claimed that officers were forced to restrain Timpa with his stomach to the ground in order to stop him from escaping and running into a busy intersection. But about a minute later, a police car can be seen blocking traffic near the bus bench where the officers had pinned him.
“Please let me go, please,” Timpa cries repeatedly.
Still restrained by his hands and feet, the 32-year-old becomes unresponsive after several minutes of pleading. At this point, officers in the video can be heard laughing and mocking Timpa, one even noting that he is “out cold.” His nose is buried in the grass when officers claim to hear him snoring—apparently unaware that the unarmed man is drawing his last breaths.
When Timpa snorts, the first responders begin joking that he fell asleep.
“It’s time for school. Wake up!” another cop says, earning laughs from the group.
Mimicking a whiny teenager, another officer responds: “I don’t want to go to school! Five more minutes, Mom!”
In the video, paramedics don’t begin CPR until at least four minutes after Timpa loses consciousness.
“He didn’t just die down there did he?” an officer asks while Timpa is being loaded onto a gurney and put into an ambulance. “I hope I didn’t kill him.”
Before the body cam is shut off, one officer turns to someone and says: “Sorry. We tried.”
A spokesperson for the Dallas County Medical Examiner’s Office confirmed to The Daily Beast that Timpa died from a sudden cardiac arrest due to “the toxic effects of cocaine and the stress associated with physical restraint” for over 13 minutes. According to the spokesperson, Timpa died within 20 minutes of police arriving and at least 15 minutes before he was transported to Parkland hospital.
Timpa’s death was ruled a homicide.
In 2019, Dallas County District Attorney John Creuzot dismissed the charges, saying that all three medical examiners who testified before the grand jury had indicated the officers did not act “recklessly.”
The problem with this and most cases is not that officers just do shit like this but that officers also get away with it does anyone truly think the officers in this case should have had charges dropped? Why not let this go through to jury and see what happens there have them see the video and then make a decision? But no we have to rely on people who work with the officers to charge their buddies.