mick silver
13th April 2016, 04:33 PM
Police Docs: Cops “Punched, Beat, Tasered, & Strangled” Men Illegally Held in Secret Chicago PrisonSource: RT (https://www.rt.com/usa/339395-chicago-police-beat-strangled-men/)Internal police documents obtained through a public records request showed Chicago officers punched, beat, Tasered and strangled men held illegally at Homan Square, the city’s off-site interrogation center.
Chicago Police Department files confirm that officers used physical force against at least 14 men when they were held in custody at its warehouse site, according to (http://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2016/apr/11/homan-square-chicago-police-internal-documents-physical-force-prisoner-abuse) the Guardian on Tuesday, which obtained the documents through a lawsuit under Illinois’ freedom of information law.
Police used punches, knee and elbow strikes, slaps, wrist twists, baton blows and Tasers during interviews with suspects at the secretive facility. However, these documented details have emerged following official denials. Last month, the CPD called the accounts of physical violence “unequivocally false.”
According to depositions with officers and more than two dozen first-hand accounts, handcuffing was routine, and physical force was intense enough to send some to the hospital. The documents include hospitalization records and Tactical Response Reports, a routine form for follow-up review. Over 7,000 people have been detained at the site, and more than 6,000 of them were black.
In one account, Mark Rideaux was accompanying someone “to pick up some drugs,” on December 27, 2001. Rideaux was spotted by an undercover officer and later pulled over and arrested as the car he was driving was determined to be stolen. He was taken to Homan Square and handcuffed to the wall of a cell. A hospitalization case report said a desk officer “heard a scream” coming from the cell and found Rideaux “unconscious” from a “self-inflicted” injury.
“While in custody, victim, having one hand (left) cuffed to wall with a flex cuff, managed to put another flex cuff around his neck,” an unspecified officer’s report stated. Police cut off the cuff and sent him to Mount Sinai hospital for treatment.
Rideaux, who is currently serving a narcotics sentence in prison, wrote to the Guardian, contradicting the police account. He said he was questioned aggressively about guns and drugs until things “got out of hand.”
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Chicago Police Department files confirm that officers used physical force against at least 14 men when they were held in custody at its warehouse site, according to (http://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2016/apr/11/homan-square-chicago-police-internal-documents-physical-force-prisoner-abuse) the Guardian on Tuesday, which obtained the documents through a lawsuit under Illinois’ freedom of information law.
Police used punches, knee and elbow strikes, slaps, wrist twists, baton blows and Tasers during interviews with suspects at the secretive facility. However, these documented details have emerged following official denials. Last month, the CPD called the accounts of physical violence “unequivocally false.”
According to depositions with officers and more than two dozen first-hand accounts, handcuffing was routine, and physical force was intense enough to send some to the hospital. The documents include hospitalization records and Tactical Response Reports, a routine form for follow-up review. Over 7,000 people have been detained at the site, and more than 6,000 of them were black.
In one account, Mark Rideaux was accompanying someone “to pick up some drugs,” on December 27, 2001. Rideaux was spotted by an undercover officer and later pulled over and arrested as the car he was driving was determined to be stolen. He was taken to Homan Square and handcuffed to the wall of a cell. A hospitalization case report said a desk officer “heard a scream” coming from the cell and found Rideaux “unconscious” from a “self-inflicted” injury.
“While in custody, victim, having one hand (left) cuffed to wall with a flex cuff, managed to put another flex cuff around his neck,” an unspecified officer’s report stated. Police cut off the cuff and sent him to Mount Sinai hospital for treatment.
Rideaux, who is currently serving a narcotics sentence in prison, wrote to the Guardian, contradicting the police account. He said he was questioned aggressively about guns and drugs until things “got out of hand.”
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