By Natasha Korecki, The Chicago Sun-times
A video shows Evanston police officers leading a handcuffed man -- arrested on a traffic violation -- into a police bathroom stall unharmed. But when he’s brought back out, the silent color footage shows blood dripping from above his eye and collecting on his shirt.
The man, Sayyid Qadri, 21, of Rogers Park claims in a federal civil lawsuit filed Thursday that officers shoved his head into a wall and beat him up behind that stall -- a spot out of video surveillance reach. The video later shows officers shoving Qadri into the wall, and one puts his hands around Qadri’s neck. A gash above Qadri’s head required six stitches, he said.
“I just can’t explain why would they would do that ... but there was something in their minds and in their thoughts that made them want to do it,” Qadri said Thursday. “That’s why I want justice for what happened.”
His attorneys, Jon Loevy and Mark Reyes, played the video at a news conference Thursday. They are suing Evanston and several Evanston police officers for allegedly using excessive force and violating Qadri’s civil rights. The lawsuit, which seeks unspecified damages, charges that the officers together concocted a phony story that Qadri assaulted an officer.
A police report states that Qadri repeatedly swore at officers and hit his own head against a wall as he made “violent movements” while officers tried to control him after the March 10 arrest.
The Cook County state’s attorney’s office is investigating the police brutality allegations.
Qadri was arrested after he made an illegal right turn in Evanston. Police alleged he also brutalized an officer and damaged police department property.
The video emerged in that criminal case. However, “as soon as [Qadri] got the video, they stopped pursuing those criminal charges,” Loevy said.
The video also shows an officer shoving Qadri, who is still handcuffed with his hands behind his back, into a brick wall outside the stall but still in the bathroom. The officer is seen dabbing sweat from his own brow with a white cloth. Later, the same officer looks up in the direction of the camera and dabs blood from Qadri’s eye.
Evanston Police Chief Frank Kaminski said the officers involved in the incident were placed on administrative duty in March. Kaminski also said the department is cooperating with the state’s attorney’s investigation.
In another case filed Thursday, a Calumet City family alleges police officers arrested Don Pennington Jr. for jaywalking and later beat him up in the police station interrogation room.
Calumet City Police Chief Pat Omeara wouldn’t comment because the allegation involves a juvenile and a charge of officer misconduct, he said. Omeara said an internal investigation of the incident is under way.