Three Oak Lawn police officers accused in a federal civil lawsuit of using excessive force in the July 27 arrest of a Bridgeview teen have asked the judge overseeing the case to temporarily halt the proceedings.
The lawsuit, filed Aug. 1, alleges the officers “engaged in extreme and outrageous conduct” in the arrest of a 17-year-old in which video provided by police as well as video taken by witnesses show officers repeatedly punching the youth as he was pinned down on an Oak Lawn street.
The arrest and video footage sparked protests and the lawsuit alleges the three officers involved in the arrest conspired among one another in a “racially motivated conspiracy” to deprive of the teen of his constitutional rights because he is Arab American.
Officers Brandon Collins, Mark Hollingsworth and Patrick O’Donnell said their constitutional rights could be impaired if the stay is not granted, according to their Nov. 4 court filing.
State police are reviewing the arrest and those findings will likely be reviewed by the Cook County state’s attorney’s office, which could decide whether to pursue criminal charges against the officers, they say in the filing.
Federal Judge Steven Seeger gave the teen’s attorneys until Nov. 30 to respond to the officer’s request to delay the lawsuit.
If granted, the stay would delay the officers having to respond to the lawsuit or take part in the discovery process, such as being interviewed by the plaintiff’s attorneys.
Without the stay, the officers “could be unfairly forced” to invoke their Fifth Amendment right against self incrimination, which could be construed as an admission of guilt during the civil trial, they argue. Approving a stay would prevent the officers “from being prejudicially compelled to make decisions which would compromise their rights and their civil defense,” they state.
The arrest began as a traffic stop in which the teen ran from police and was apprehended a few blocks away near 95th Street and McVicker Avenue.
Video taken by eyewitnesses and police dashboard camera footage show initially two officers restraining the teen in the street, with one officer punching the youth in the thigh while a second officer delivers several blows to the teen’s head.
A Taser was used and the teen was handcuffed. Officers found a .25 caliber pistol in a bag that had been draped over the teen’s shoulder.
The teen was treated for injuries at Advocate Christ Medical Center in Oak Lawn and released from the hospital Aug. 1, then detained overnight at Cook County’s juvenile detention facility before being released the next day into the custody of his family.
According to the teen’s attorneys, O’Donnell and Collins were the two initial officers who apprehended the teen and were soon joined by Hollingsworth. Collins used a Taser on the teen before the youth was handcuffed, according to the lawyers.
The teen faces charges of aggravated unlawful use of a weapon and unlawful possession of a firearm.
The case is being heard in juvenile court and his next court date is Dec. 8 at the Cook County courthouse in Bridgeview, according to the state’s attorney’s office. The teen remains under a 10 p.m. curfew, according to the office.
At a July 28 news conference following a demonstration outside the Oak Lawn police station, police Chief Daniel Vittorio said the arresting officers feared for their safety and suggested they would have been in their right to use deadly force.
Vittorio said responding officers feared the teen had a firearm in an “accessory bag” draped over his right shoulder, although the firearm was not recovered until the teen had been handcuffed.