Print
Nov 21, 2008 6:35 pm US/Central
Police Again Accused Of Election-Night Violence
CHICAGO (CBS) ―
-
-
A group of Chicagoans filed a lawsuit Friday alleging that police brutalized them on Election Night.
CBS
While Barack Obama and millions of supporters celebrated on election night Nov. 4, more than a dozen people say Chicago police attacked them.
CBS 2's Mike Puccinelli reports on a third lawsuit stemming from that night.
"The civil rights lawsuit we filed today concerns a racist attack by Chicago police officers where they attacked up to 22 individuals – 22 of my clients --that were doing nothing else other than peacefully celebrating Barack Obama's victory," attorney Blake Horwitz said Friday.
Lenneth Suggs claims he was attacked from behind by police who he says apparently didn't like his Obama T-shirt.
"I just see a black leather glove and a long canister pull my head back and mace me," he said.
Others celebrating the Obama victory on the city's West Side streets describe what amounted to a drive-by macing by police.
"I was waving to the police cars as they rode past, and I just felt some water come out of the car," plaintiff Laquita Bryant said. "I thought it was water … I realized I couldn't see anymore."
Marvin Wideman showed off the scabs from the attack he says he received at the hands of cops. He said they maced him before knocking him to ground and beating him with their nightsticks.
"I thought I was going to go blind," he said.
Christopher Cobbs says before he was maced he watched police mace and knock a woman to the ground while she was nine months pregnant. He wants financial compensation and something more.
"Justice," he said. "We humans just like anybody else. Being sprayed made a person feel almost like an animal."
At least nine officers are named as defendants in the suit. The Independent Police Review Authority wouldn't comment on the merits of the case. But its investigators are encouraging people who say they were mistreated to contact the review authority.
(© MMIX, CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved.)
Video: CBS 2's Picks To Click
