Nov 13, 2008 6:29 pm US/Central
Lawsuits Claim Election Night Hate Crimes By Cops
CHICAGO (CBS) ―
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Niger Arnold is suing Chicago Police for hate crimes and battery after officers allegedly sprayed pepper spray on her and her children and barged into their West Side home as they celebrated Barack Obama's Election Night victory.
Two more women are suing Chicago Police for hate crimes and battery after officers allegedly sprayed pepper spray on the women and their children and barged into their West Side home as they celebrated Barack Obama's Election Night victory.
The suit marks the second in two weeks alleging police abuse of civilians celebrating Obama's win.
Niger Arnold and Roslyn Arnold filed suit Thursday in U.S. District Court on behalf of their six children, including four minors, against five unnamed police officers for the Nov. 4 incident.
"If you can't trust police officers, who can you trust?" Arnold said at a news conference Thursday.
Her family was standing outside their home in the 3400 block of West Chicago Avenue cheering and celebrating Obama's victory when police squad cars drove down the street and one or more officers hung out the window and discharged pepper spray at the crowd, the suit said.
After some words were exchanged, officers exited their vehicles with guns drawn and kicked open the door to the Arnold family home, according to the suit.
The officers allegedly knocked some of the family members to the ground and made racial comments, the suit said.
Arnold says during this alleged encounter with police, the officers' guns were drawn the entire time, which terrified her 3-year-old nephew.
"He peed on himself," the woman said. "My mom's blood pressure went up sky-high. I couldn't breathe."
The suit claims the women and their kids suffered violations of their constitutional rights, emotional anxiety, humiliation, fear, pain and suffering, monetary loss and future pain and suffering.
The four-count suit, which also claims unlawful search, battery and hate crime seeks more than $200,000 in damages.
The Independent Police Review Authority is investigating "multiple allegations" against officers who allegedly pepper-sprayed civilians on Election Night. The Chicago Police Department issued a statement saying it does not tolerate the types of actions that are alleged to have occurred.
The first federal suit was filed Friday by a family charging that officers in unmarked squad cars pepper-sprayed and shouted racial slurs at their young children as they drove on the West Side.
That incident happened about 10:30 p.m. in the 5700 block of West Division Street, after the three girls -- ages 11, 6 and 1 -- started yelling "Yay! Obama" out open car windows, according to the suit.
Arnold's attorney, Gregory Kulis, seeks a subpoena for the videotape generated by a police street camera that may provide evidence.
"Oprah and Rev. (Jesse) Jackson weren't pepper-sprayed because they were in Grant Park," Kulis said. "But there were no national cameras on the West Side of the city of Chicago."
CBS 2's Suzanne Le Mignot and The STNGWire contributed to this report.
(© MMIX, CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved.)
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