An 8-year-old boy was handcuffed and made to face within the frigid rain on the South Side throughout a botched police raid in March, legal professionals for the boy’s household declare in a federal lawsuit filed Wednesday.
“I felt very afraid, terrified,” the boy’s mom, Alberta Wilson, instructed reporters throughout a information convention at her lawyer’s downtown workplace.
Scores of Chicago cops descended on Wilson’s residence within the the 8900 block of South Laflin Street and ordered Wilson and her household out of the house at gunpoint, in accordance with the swimsuit.
“Once the family reached the street, police handcuffed them,” the swimsuit states. “Officers handcuffed short, 8-year-old Royal for no reason for approximately 35 to 40 minutes while he stood in the street shaking from fear and cold and drenched in the freezing rain. The handcuffs were too tight, and his wrist bruised.”
Royal Smart, 8, was handcuffed by Chicago cops throughout a botched raid, his household claims in a civil rights lawsuit.Provided photograph
Others have been handcuffed exterior for as much as two hours, in accordance with the lawsuit. Police searched the house however by no means discovered the weapons they have been searching for, mentioned Al Hofeld Jr., the household’s lawyer.
Hofeld mentioned the case, and others he has filed, level to the pressing want for strict guidelines and coaching for Chicago police after they take care of kids.
Wilson’s kids all now undergo signs of submit traumatic stress syndrome, Hofeld mentioned.
“In Chicago, we are still in the dark ages when it comes to policing and children,” Hofeld mentioned.
The Chicago Law Department had no quick remark.