$700,000 to go to South Side family menaced by police
The city of Chicago has agreed to pay a South Side family $700,000 to settle a 2006 lawsuit that alleged a group of rogue police officers extorted thousands of dollars during a series of armed raids at the family's home, according to the family's attorney.
"We were constantly in fear every day," said plaintiff Sharon Wilkins, 44, during a news conference Friday. "(We were) barely sleeping at night."
Roderick Drew, a spokesman for the city's Law Department, confirmed that there is "a proposed settlement in place" that would be subject to City Council approval
Four of the defendants named in the lawsuit were arrested in 2005 and later convicted and sentenced to prison for shaking down drug dealers in Englewood. Wilkins and her family alleged that those former police officers targeted them because her brother Larry had a criminal drug record.
In 2004, officers Corey Flagg, Eural Black, Darek Haynes and Broderick Jones came to the home of Wilkins' mother at times when they knew the family had received Social Security or work checks, then threatened to plant drugs and guns on Larry Wilkins and arrest him if the family didn't pay them, according to family attorney Blake Horwitz.
"They would say, 'We're going to arrest this guy (Larry Wilkins) today,'" Horwitz said. "See these drugs, these drugs are going to be his. See this gun, this gun is going to be his."
The officers would handcuff family members or friends who happened to be at the home and threaten them with arrest and criminal drug possession charges if they did not give them cash, according to the lawsuit.
The raids went on for about a year and the officers stole between $8,000 to $13,000, according to Horwitz.
Wilkins' son on Friday recalled that on one occasion a police officer even held a gun to his head.
"I thought he was going to shoot me," said Rashi Gant, now 18. "They corrupted my whole image and the way I think of police."
On Aug. 6, 2004, the family alleged that they refused to pay the police and Flagg planted cocaine on Larry Wilkins and arrested him. Wilkins spent eight months in jail before the charges were dismissed, according to the lawsuit.
No comments:
Post a Comment