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NEWS & LETTERS, June 2002
Chicago cop abuseChicago—After the last Chicago Police Board meeting, I received a letter from the Office of Professional Standards saying that they feel the police officers who came to my home and beat and abused me were in the right. I am not letting this go. I almost had a nervous breakdown behind the reports of the 911 system's failure when Ronyale White called the police three times because her husband was threatening her. They never showed up to help her until she was already dead. This shows how serious they take emergency calls. On Feb. 12, 2000, I gave my tenant a five day notice. She called for an officer to come out concerning the notice. The officer who came was Ephgrave. I told him it wasn't his concern. I asked him to leave but he refused. He began to be rude and seemed prejudiced. When he did leave his attitude was cruel. The next time I saw Ephgrave was March 22, 2000. The tenant called him. Before Officer Ephgrave arrived, one other officer came to the scene. My family and I explained the situation to the officer. We had not seen the tenant that day. Ephgrave finally showed up and asked the other officer to leave, but he didn't leave. Ephgrave grabbed my arm and demanded that we go outside. I told him I had nothing to say to him. He grabbed me in an aggressive way, I repeated "I have nothing to say to you." I felt more comfortable talking to the other officer. The last time Officer Ephgrave and Officer Garcia grabbed me it was too aggressive. I was thrown down, kneed in my back, handcuffed very tight, dragged out and roughly put in the car. Ephgrave used vile racial words. After they put me in the car they called for backup. Police began to come from every direction. It seemed like now there were 15 squad cars. Ephgrave began taunting and laughing, discussing me to my tenant and other officers. They spent about 20 minutes doing that. I was 55 years old and not in any kind of good shape. I have tried to get Jesse Jackson, Channel 7 News, and Johnnie Cochran to help. For two years I have been fighting the Chicago Police 11th District on Harrison and Kedzie. My grandsons have been beaten. The other day I was bringing groceries home and the police pulled up next to our car. We were right in front of our house and my grandson was harassed by the police. They had him step away from the car and demanded to know his name, and what was he doing there. He was just helping me with the groceries. The Chicago Police 11th District gives us no life. I live in fear everyday. —Charlene Coleman |
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