Dec 7, 2009 5:58 pm US/Central
Family Sues Over Alleged Police Beating Of Teen
Austistic Family Member Was Struck In Head With Baton Without Provocation, Suit Alleges
CHICAGO (CBS) ―
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Nubia and Maria Guzman describe a picture Oscar Guzman drew after he was allegedly beaten by a Chicago police officer last April. The family filed a lawsuit this week.
CBS
A Chicago family wants justice.
They claim a Chicago police officer burst into their family-owned restaurant and beat their son bloody, despite being told that the teen has autism and special needs.
CBS 2's Mike Flannery reports.
The police beating allegedly occurred way back in April. That's when then-16-year old Oscar Guzman needed eight stitches to close a wound on the top of his head. His family claims Chicago police and the Independent Police Review Authority have stonewalled ever since, refusing even to confirm the identity of the officers involved.
It was about 40 degrees warmer last April 22 than it was today. Oscar Guzman was among those just outside the fast food restaurant that his family has owned for 10 years in Little Village.
His sister, Nubia Guzman, says she still has trouble believing what a Chicago Police officer did next.
"They struck him in the head with a baton, to cause laceration (needing) eight stitches," she said.
It is still not clear what happened that night out here on 26th Street. But witnesses said they saw Oscar Guzman enter the restaurant, go into the back, followed a few seconds later by a Chicago police officer.
"They chased him into the back," Nubia Guzman said. "At that point, we advised them that he had special needs. He himself let them know that he had special needs. And that's when he was struck."
His family says a picture Oscar Guzman drew five days after the alleged beating reflects the emotional trauma the incident caused.
His mother, Maria, finally filed a federal lawsuit, she says, because nearly eight months after the incident, she's heard nothing from police of the IPRA, the entity charged with investigating allegations of abuse.
"I feel really bad that they struck him," she said as her daughter translated.
A lawyer for the family, Nelly Aguilar, said, "They want to know what any family would want to know: They want to know who was it that beat up their child right in front of the mother and the father?"
Because of the lawsuit, Chicago police referred all questions to lawyers at City Hall. They had no comment. As for the IPRA, they also declined to offer any substantive explanation for their nearly eight months of silence.
(© MMX, CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved.)
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