Oak Lawn denies police officers pummeled a teen following an arrest last July in which video provided by police as well as video taken by witnesses show officers repeatedly punching the youth as he was pinned down on a village street.
Responding to a federal lawsuit filed last summer by the Bridgeview teen, Oak Lawn is asking a judge to dismiss the complaint, although talks aimed at settling the lawsuit are underway.
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The village, its police chief and three officers are named in the lawsuit, which alleges the officers “engaged in extreme and outrageous conduct” in connection with the July 27 arrest.
In the village’s Dec. 29 response, it also denies the teen’s constitutional rights were denied by the actions of the officers. Oak Lawn contends the officers acted in accordance with Illinois law governing the use of force by police officers.
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The village also maintains, in its response, that because it is a public entity, it is not liable for wrongdoing “resulting from an act or omission” by a village employee, such as the police officers.
Both the plaintiff and defendants are in discussions aimed at a potential out-of-court settlement, and U.S. District Court Judge Steven Seeger asked both sides to file a status report on those talks by Jan. 31, according to a filing in the case.
Attorneys, in a Dec. 12 filing, said the teen had made a written settlement demand to the defendants, who’ve asked for more information regarding the hospital records and medical bills of the teen, who was hospitalized after the arrest. The teen’s attorney will forward that information to the defendants, according to the filing.
A vehicle the 17-year-old was in was stopped by police July 27, and he ran before being apprehended following a chase. After the teen was subdued and handcuffed, police found a handgun in a bag slung over the his shoulder.
The lawsuit alleges the three officers involved in the arrest conspired among one another in a “racially motivated conspiracy” to deprive the teen of his constitutional rights because he is Arab American.
On Dec. 12, Seeger gave the officers named in the lawsuit — Brandon Collins, Mark Hollingsworth and Patrick O’Donnell — more time to submit their responses.
In a Nov. 4 court filing, the officers requested the extension, saying their constitutional rights could be impaired. The delay means, at least for the time being, the officers do not have to be interviewed by the plaintiff’s attorneys.
State police are reviewing the arrest and those findings will likely be reviewed by the Cook County state’s attorney’s office, which could decide whether to pursue criminal charges against the officers, the officers said in requesting the stay.
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Cook County State’s Attorney Kim Foxx called for an independent probe by state police into the arrest, which sparked a large protest outside Oak Lawn’s police station. Oak Lawn officials at the time said they would cooperate in the state police investigation.
Oak Lawn denies in its Dec. 29 filing the lawsuit’s allegation that O’Donnell put his knee on the youth’s back while he was pinned “and made immobile” by Collins, and that O’Donnell punched the teen in the head and face.
Video taken by eyewitnesses and police dashboard camera footage show initially two officers restraining the teen in the street in the area of 95th Street and McVicker Avenue following a chase.
One officer is punching the youth in the thigh while a second officer delivers several blows to the teen’s head, the images show. A third officer arrives and a Taser is used and the teen is handcuffed. Officers found a .25 caliber pistol in a bag the teen had draped over his shoulder. The village, in its response to the lawsuit, admits that a Taser was used.
The teen was hospitalized at Advocate Christ Medical Center in Oak Lawn after suffering a broken nose, bruising across his face and body, and internal bleeding near his brain and forehead, according to an attorney for his family.
After being released from the hospital, the teen was kept overnight at the Oak Lawn police station before being taken to the Cook County Juvenile Detention Center for a hearing, then released to the custody of his family.
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He is charged as a juvenile with felonies including resisting arrest and unlawful use of a weapon, and is to appear again in the Bridgeview courthouse Jan. 19.
The incident began at about 5:30 p.m. July 27 when police stopped a vehicle that lacked a front license plate and had “an odor of burnt cannabis” coming from it, Oak Lawn police Chief Daniel Vittorio said at a news conference the day after the arrest.
The vehicle was stopped in the 9500 block of Southwest Highway. Dashboard footage shows the vehicle’s driver stepping out of the car and consenting to a pat-down search and being asked to step to the rear of the car. The 17-year-old was a passenger in the rear driver side seat, and as police tried to search him he ran off.
Oak Lawn officers are not equipped with body-worn cameras, but police released the dash-camera recordings of the initial traffic stop and subsequent foot chase.
The lawsuit alleges police released an “edited and doctored version” of the dashboard camera footage in an effort to conceal the officers’ actions, which the village denies in its response to the lawsuit.
Vittorio, at a July 28 news conference which followed a large protest outside the police station, said responding officers feared the teen had a firearm in an “accessory bag” he carried over his shoulder, although the .25 caliber pistol wasn’t recovered until after the teen was subdued and handcuffed.
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At the news conference, Vittorio said the officers would have been within their rights to use deadly force.
The lawsuit alleges officers were “not in imminent danger” at the time of the teen’s arrest, which the village denies.
mnolan@tribpub.com
