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Four Arrested During Sit-in At University Of Chicago Hospital

By aaroncynic in News on Jan 28, 2013 4:20PM


Four protesters were arrested, and several demonstrators reported being shoved to the ground or pushed by University of Chicago police during a sit-in at the hospital on Sunday. A petition has started demanding university administration explain why police handled the situation so violently.

A group of protesters staged a sit-in at the University of Chicago's hospital at 57th and Maryland demanding the University commit to extend the age limit at its child care center from 15 to 21. CBS2 reports at least 50 demonstrators entered the University of Chicago's new $700 million research building. The University of Chicago Hospital's Children’s Comer Hospital opened in 2006, but only takes children up to 15. Older trauma victims are sent to other locations.

Sheila Rush's son Damian Turner was shot near the hospital in 2010 but taken to Northwestern. He later died. Rush said in a press release, “It's unfair for this community not to have a trauma center, for all the incidents going on… it's heartless.”

The demonstrators called out the University for spending money on the new research building and “ignoring the immediate needs of the low income communities of color which surround it.” Veronica Morris-Moore, a participant in the sit-in and member of a group called Fearless Leading by the Youth said, “There needs to be attention brought to this, a $700M research building versus however many millions it would take to care for the children who are dying.”


Moore, Rush and several other demonstrators reported being shoved to the ground or pushed by campus police. At least one officer can be seen swinging his baton in the opening of the video below.

Those arrested include Jacob Klippenstein, who was filming the event, alumnus Alex Goldenberg, Victoria Crider and PhD student Toussaint Losier, who was also the designated police mediator. The author of the petition says the police "singled out Toussaint Losier for especially harsh treatment."

After choking him with a nightstick, they kept him handcuffed and forced him to lie face-down on cold cement for approximately ten minutes in sub-freezing weather. It is notable that Toussaint, an African American student and a beloved campus leader, was active in the University committee that attempted to defuse the crisis surrounding Mauriece Dawson, an African-American student arrested by UCPD in the Regenstein Library in 2010.

Watch video of the arrests below.