Paraplegic Man Says Chicago Police Roughed Him Up
By Samantha Abernethy in News on Apr 26, 2012 10:00PM
A paraplegic man is suing the Chicago Police Department because he says two officers hit him and knocked him from his wheelchair. Reginald Edwards, 32, says he was recharging his electric wheelchair at a Dunkin Donuts, and a clerk told him to leave.
Edwards says when two police officers arrived, they pushed him out of the shop hit him in the face. They took him to the police station and told him to “wipe the blood off his face and tell (their) supervisor nothing happened to him” or they would charge him with a felony.
When he refused, the officers shook and struck him, knocking him out of the wheelchair causing “a catheter to be torn from his genitals” and other injuries that required him to be taken to Mercy Hospital, the lawsuit states. Edwards was charged with battery and resisting arrest, the lawsuit states.
Edwards was charged with battery and resisting arrest, and his lawsuit seeks damages "for wanton and willful conduct and false arrest."