Man Kicked In Head By Police Released, Then Arrested Less Than 24 Hours Later
By Mae Rice in News on Jun 16, 2016 8:22PM
Update below: A man who was kicked in the head by a police officer during a Monday arrest documented in a viral video was released from police custody with no charges filed on Wednesday. He was then re-arrested Thursday, less than 24 hours after his release, according to police and the Sun-Times. Charges against Shaquille O'Neal are once again pending, police said.
The arrest comes after outcry from the Fraternal Order of Police, Chicago's police union. In a Wednesday statement on the union's website, titled "Unacceptable Events," the FOP writes that something went "terribly wrong" with O'Neal's case because he was released without being charged with "aggravated battery" of his arresting officers.
O'Neal's arresting officers were hospitalized after the arrest. Both were bitten during the arrest, one on the finger and the other on the arm; one officer also suffered what FOP president Dean Angelo told the Sun-Times consisted of bruises left by a chokehold.
O'Neal was hospitalized after the arrest, too, because an arresting officer kicked—or as others have put it, stomped on—O'Neal's head, leaving O'Neal unconscious. The officer who kicked O'Neal has been relieved of police duties pending an investigation from the Independent Police Review Authority (IPRA).
One portion of the police union's statement reads:
As with any investigation involving an injury to one of our own, we are very, very concerned when the person responsible is not held accountable. As members of the Chicago Police Department, we are more than tired of being considered by some to be second class citizens and not worthy of the same protections under the law guaranteed to any other citizen.
This is an extremely bold claim from the Chicago Police, accused of systemic racism by pretty much everybody.
Before discharging O'Neal, police said they found him in possession of three Ziploc bags of heroin. O'Neal was arrested while on parole for a previous drug conviction, FOX reported.
Update, June 17: O'Neal, 23, was charged with four felonies on Thursday, according to a spokesperson for the Cook County State's Attorney's office. In relation to his Monday arrest, in which he was kicked in the head, he was charged with aggravated battery to a police officer, aggravated battery by strangulation and possession of a controlled substance. He was also charged with aggravated battery of an officer and resisting arrest in relation to Thursday’s arrest.
Here's the video of O'Neal's arrest: