Suit Alleges Chicago Police Are Terrorists

By Sam Bakken in News on Jan 19, 2005 10:34PM

A woman from the Southwest Side of Chicago filed suit in federal court yesterday charging that she and her family were the victims of a "campaign of terror" carried out by Chicago police officers. Laura Ramirez says the campaign started when she testified against a number of officers involved in an altercation in 2002 with her neighbor, a Chicago police officer off-duty at the time of the incident. An internal police investigation said the officers were not to blame.

The complaints mostly involve allegations of false arrests and beatings. One specific allegation says Ramirez's son was arrested seven times, and each time police shackled him to a bench and beat him with plastic binders.

The suit alleges police used the binders because they don't leave marks. Chicagoist begs to differ. We were once the victim of a Trapper Keeper beat down in grade school (it was initiation for the Thomas Lake Elementary Pretty Princesses gang). And though we still keep our official crayon-on-construction-paper membership card in our wallet, we'll never forget the image of that unicorn jumping over a rainbow—and then into our nose with so many hooves. Believe us, that shit left both physical and emotional marks.

The suit also alleges that Chicago police targeted Ramirez's son's car, writing him more than $8,000 in parking tickets. Police arrested Ramirez's other son, shot him in the eye with a pellet gun and detained him for three days, according to the suit. Ramirez also says that at one point police plundered her home and stole tapes she claimed were evidence of the officers' misdeeds and money.

So yea, holy shit. We wouldn't be surprised if at least some of the allegations are true. Hopefully the truth will come out in court.