Chicago Police

Chicago Police Burst Through Door ‘Guns Drawn' at Wrong Home, Lawsuit Claims

Chicago police officers illegally searched, verbally abused and assaulted a couple and their two young children according to a lawsuit filed Friday in Cook County court—and they say they have video to back up the claim.

Surveillance video from the Franklin family’s Lawndale home shows female family members in pajamas with their hands up about 6 a.m. last March. The couple says their son and daughter, 12 and 19, were home at the time when they were all startled awake by police officers. The police, the Franklin’s say, were looking for a man who did not live there.

“They have their guns drawn on us,” Ashanti Franklin said. “I’m telling them he doesn’t live there!”

Rommel Franklin described the apartment door swinging open and seeing guns and flashlights.

“They never ID themselves,” Ashanti said.

The family’s attorney, Rahsaan Gordon, said it was clear the officers made an error and went to the wrong place.

The officers, the family says, refused to give their names or badge numbers. They used threatening and racially charged language, the family said.

The Franklin’s are asking for the city to pay for property damage and emotional trauma and for the officers to be held accountable.

Chicago police did not immediately respond to request for comment Friday evening.

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