A man who claims he was beaten by police while trying to tell officers he had just been robbed has filed a federal civil rights lawsuit against the Chicago Police Department.
According to the lawsuit, Robert Foreman was attacked at gunpoint by “an assailant” Sunday afternoon was attempting to chase his attacker near 88th and Wabash when police arrived.
“As he was yelling to the police that he was robbed, he was taken down and beaten by a Chicago Police Officer,” the lawsuit states.
Police, however, say officers had tried to ticket the 22-year-old for drinking in public when he ran away. Foreman was charged with resisting arrest and public consumption of alcohol.
Attorney Gregory Kulis claims the charges are a cover-up for police misconduct. He said Foreman was trying to “motion to the police, the guy is going down the street, the guy who robbed me” but officers instead took Foreman down.
The scene was captured on video by a witness and shows Foreman on the ground shouting to police that he had just been robbed.
“The officer is on top of him, striking him, pummeling him and Robert keeps yelling, ‘I’m not doing anything. I just got robbed,’” Kulis said.
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"Based on this video, CPD has opened an internal affairs investigation into this incident and will be forwarding the video and all relevant reports to the Independent Review Board for investigation,” the department said in a statement. “We are committed to the highest levels of integrity and professional standards and look forward to IPRA's review of this incident"
Foreman’s lawsuit against the department and the city claims the officer violated his constitutional rights and alleges excessive force and false arrest. It seeks a trial by jury.
The officer involved in the arrest remains on-duty pending the investigation, police said.
"As I've said before, if you think being a police officer is easy, it's not,” Supt. Eddie Johnson said. “We forwarded all evidence that we have to IPRA and we'll let investigation runs its course."
