Local News

CHICAGO (CBS) ― The teenager falsely accused in the Ryan Harris murder was released on bond Thursday night after he and his family say he was beaten by police.

And Elijah Henderson Jr. says he has the injuries to prove it.

A decade ago, Henderson was wrongfully accused of murder, and three years ago was awarded $6 million for police misconduct.

And now, at 18, he is fresh from another run-in with police, leaving him with lacerations on both sides of his badly swollen face, and a horribly mangled toe.

"They arrested me and beat me," he said. "They slammed me on the concrete. The sergeant picked me up and slammed me on the concrete head first and I went unconscious after that."

A neighbor took cell phone video of the incident, and another watched from her house.

"They caught him on that corner and started beatin' on him beatin' on him, he's crying for his dear life, scared to death," said neighbor Phyllis Clay.

The reason he ran, his family says is because Henderson, Eli, as he's called, was still deathly afraid of police after his nightmare arrest in the Ryan Harris case.

"In some kind of way he was trying to get away from them because this boy is fearful, scared," his grandmother, Rosetta Crawford, told CBS 2 Wednesday night.

Henderson's attorney says there was a reason a judge set an unusually low $500 cash bond, despite the serious charges against Henderson.

"You can't strike a police officer and not get a high bond," attorney Andre Grant said. "He don't believe. He said, 'Kid post $500 and go home with your parents.'"

Henderson's attorneys allege the Chicago police must have known the young man were arresting had been falsely arrested in the very high profile Ryan Harris case 10 years ago.

"I don't think it's a coincidence that this young man who was falsely accused 10 years ago is now in a lockup, beat up by Chicago police," Grant said. "I don't think that's a coincidence."

Police insist when they entered the Henderson home Tuesday night to pursue a traffic violator, they didn't know Henderson Jr., lived there. The alleged offender was his father, Elijah Sr., who police say had gone through a seatbelt check without stopping.

His attorneys say he did not even realize he'd done it.

"There was no traffic stop, there was no siren, there was no nothing," Grant said. "That's what the alarm is. He was unaware that anyone followed him or stopped him. They [the police] kicked in the door; they tore the screen off the door."

Attorneys say some 20 officers entered the home with guns drawn, and when Elijah Jr., tried to defend his father, he was beaten up.

Those videos, the neighbors, as well as the family members will all provide evidence for an investigation already underway.

"The night of the incident when the complaint first became known to the department, they notified us and we initiated an investigation right then," said Ilana Rosenzweig of the Independent Police Review Authority.

She says a rapid response team was sent to the area. And other witnesses and more evidence will be used to determine whether police got out of control, or used reasonable force to deal with a situation they claim was spiraling out of control.

It was a decade ago that Elijah Jr., then age 8, was one of two boys first accused and later exonerated in the murder of 11-year-old Ryan Harris.

In a bond hearing Thursday in criminal court, prosecutors alleged that Elijah Jr., struck a police officer in the chest. But his attorneys insist it was Henderson who was brutalized and who never received treatment for injuries to his face, jaw and foot.

"His foot injury is a split," said attorney Lewis Meyers. "It's almost like somebody had taken a knife and sliced it. And that is a very serious wound if it's not treated, and that's why we're worried."

Five other Henderson relatives were also arrested for allegedly fighting with police Tuesday night, including his mother and father. They have all been released.

Henderson's attorneys also alleged Thursday that police declined to allow the lawyers to see their client while he was locked up at the 6th District Police Headquarters Monday night. They said that was an attempt to hide the severity of Henderson's injuries.

CBS 2 Chief Correspondent Jay Levine and Derrick Blakley contributed to this report.

(© MMIX, CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved.)

---