http://www.suntimes.com/news/24-7/1074132,CST-NWS-suit25.articleA quadriplegic man sued the Chicago Police Department in federal court Thursday, claiming officers yanked him out of the passenger seat of a car in 2006, dragged him to the ground and beat him up even though he kept yelling "I'm paralyzed." Casares told the officers at least four times that he was paralyzed, but they pulled him from the car and beat him anyway, his attorney, Blake Horwitz said.
Officer Belinda Bernal, one of the seven officers Cesares is suing, said in an arrest report that Casares punched her in the left eye "causing redness and bruising." She changed her story at a bench trial, saying she was punched in the right side of the face, according to Horwitz.
The officers appear to have been members of the Targeted Response Unit deployed across the city to fight crime in "hot spots."
Another officer, William Cozzi, was recently charged with violating the civil rights of a man in a wheelchair. Cozzi was caught on a hospital security camera beating the drunk, unruly man.
