By MEGAN REICHGOTT
Associated Press Writer
CHICAGO- Two Chicago Police officers have been charged with battery and official misconduct after one allegedly punched a suspected shoplifter and the other was accused of yanking a 14-year-old girl’s ponytail after suspecting her of shoplifting, the police superintendent said Wednesday.
Both incidents were caught on store surveillance cameras while officers were questioning the suspects, Police Superintendent Philip Cline said.
“Based on what I saw, the offender posed no immediate threat to the safety of the officers or others in the room,” Cline said. He said the officers’ behavior was “unacceptable.”
Larry Guy and Alexandra Martinez, both 11-year veterans of the department, were charged Tuesday with battery and official misconduct. Guy also was charged with attempting to obstruct justice.
Martinez allegedly slapped and pulled the ponytail of the teenage girl suspected of shoplifting at a J.C. Penney store in April. Guy allegedly punched and shoved a 21-year-old man suspected of shoplifting at a Target store in June.
Messages left at a residential telephone listing for a Larry Guy in Chicago wasn’t immediately returned. No one answered the phone at a listing for Alexandra Martinez.
Neither shoplifting suspect filed a formal complaint, officials said. Instead, in both cases, store officials turned the tapes over to police supervisors at district stations. The department did not publicly release the tapes.
The misconduct charge is a felony punishable by up to 5 years in prison, and the other charges are misdemeanors, each punishable by up to a year in prison.
Cline has also started proceedings to fire the two officers.
“Wearing a police badge gives an officer tremendous power and tremendous responsibility,” Cook County State’s Attorney Richard Devine said. “Twice in recent months, two Chicago police officers have abused that power and shirked their responsibility.”
Two other officers who witnessed the incidents but did not report them have been removed from street duty, officials said. Police rules require officers who witness misconduct to report it to supervisors.