Leroy Kennedy, of Chicago, said he was walking down the street “to do his own business” when two police officers forcibly arrested him and left bruises on his face.
Kennedy, a black man, is now suing Chicago police, claiming that the officers’ camera video shows that he did not break any laws when he was taken into custody in August.
“We’re seeking justice for Mr. Kennedy. We’re also going to shine a spotlight on the aggressive ‘us versus them’ mentality that the Chicago police are taking in many black and Latino neighborhoods, ” his attorney, Christopher Smith, said in a statement.
The camera images of the body were released by Smith and contain no audio for the first minutes. The sound starts after Kennedy is arrested.
In the video, agents Ridgner and Abramson run to Kennedy and stop him as he walks down the sidewalk. Kennedy and the officers seem to be exchanging words and one of the officers, a black man, hits Kennedy against a brick wall.
The officer can then be seen on the video taking Kennedy to the ground as the second officer tries to control a crowd that has gathered.
Kennedy is turned into handcuffs and put in the back of a police car, the video shows. The two officers then take him a short distance to another location and call an ambulance.
Smith said Saturday that he does not know exactly what his client and the officers were saying to each other, but the arrest was unjustified.
According to the lawsuit, which was filed Wednesday in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Illinois, agents Ridgner and Abramson were patrolling the west side of the city at around 5:30 p.m. when they arrested Kennedy. The suit says Kennedy was “on the sidewalk looking after his own business” and “not breaking any laws.”
It says Kennedy sustained injuries to his head and wrist and was treated in the hospital.
After the arrest, “the agents conspired among themselves about what to do,” the lawsuit states.
“In an illegal attempt to justify their terrifying attack on Mr. Kennedy, the accused officers produced false reports alleging that Kennedy had committed multiple felony batteries against them,” it says.
According to a police report provided to NBC News by Smith, the officers wrote that they stopped Kennedy for looking directly at them, stiffening his body, and widening his eyes.
“Kennedy mended his hands and manipulated his front firing area,” the officers wrote, saying they thought Kennedy might be carrying a gun.
According to the police report, Kennedy waved his arms at Ridgner and yelled not to touch him.
Kennedy was arrested on two charges of resisting arrest and one charge of a police officer ‘s heavy battery. The charges were dropped in December.
The lawsuit states that charges were dropped because “there was no case” against Kennedy.
Chicago police said in a statement Saturday, “We cannot comment on any ongoing or proposed lawsuits.” The agency did not respond to questions about whether officers Ridgner and Abramson would take disciplinary action over the arrest.
The agents could not be reached on the telephone numbers stated for them.
Smith said on Saturday his client has suffered trauma since the incident. He has filed the lawsuit because he wants the police to be held responsible for the arrest and how his agents deal with people on the west and south sides of Chicago, who are mostly minority areas.
“We want the city, be it the mayor or the police, to investigate beforehand how they have officers entering these neighborhoods with a plan to be ‘us against them,’” Smith said. “We want it to stop at a general level.”
Kennedy is seeking compensatory damages because the agents “acted maliciously, willfully, or oppressively.”
