[news] City of Chicago GUILTY

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From: pippikrakra at resist.ca
To: copb-van-l at lists.resist.ca
Subject: [copb-van-l] City of Chicago GUILTY
Date: 06 May 2003 12:14:03 -0700

City of Chicago GUILTY of Covering Up Criminal Police Violence
by Chicago Anti-Bashing Network 11:36am Sat May 3 '03 (Modified on 10:50am
Tue May 6 '03) article#25654
phone: 888.471.0874 CABNstopthehate at aol.com

$1 Million Verdict in Federal Court
CHICAGO -- On Friday, a ten-person jury found the City of Chicago guilty
of systematically covering up criminal violence by its police officers, to
the point where officers felt they could commit crimes without fear of
arrest or discipline by the department.
The City has said it will appeal the decision.

The wide ranging civil suit, Garcia v. City of Chicago, examined all other
cases of police violence investigated by the City over a two year period,
and found that in only two of the 72 cases did the City refer a case the
States Attorney's office for criminal prosecution, in only one case was
there an arrest, and in none of the cases did sworn police officers face
employment-related sanctions such as suspensions or firings. Between 1999
and 2001, of the 135 cases where a citizen sued the police department for
misconduct by its officers, the Internal Affairs Department recommended
discipline in only one of them.

"If the accused is a civilian, and they know who he is and where he lives,
they put the cuffs on him. But if the accused works for the police
department, the accused is treated very differently," said Jon Loevy, lead
attorney in the case against the City. "It is a system where off duty
police officers have special protections, they are above the law, they can
get away with it." Other attorneys for the plaintiff firm, Loevy and
Loevy, were Mike Kanovitz and Arthur Loevy.

The landmark civil suit stemmed from the City's failure to act against one
of its officers before and after the severe beating of George Garcia, 23,
near the 20th District Foster station in February 2001. Officer Samir
Oshana allegedly repeatedly threatened Garcia after the latter's
ex-girlfriend began seeing Oshana, but continued to telephone Garcia.
Garcia, however, had a photograph of Oshana showing him flashing a Latin
Kings gang sign, and said he would turn the photograph over to the police
if Oshana didn't cease his physical threats.

When Oshana's threats didn't cease, Garcia visited the Foster District
police station on February 2, 2001 and asked that officers there take
action against Oshana. That evening Oshana and another alleged Latin Kings
gang member, Sargon Hewiyou, confronted Garcia and demanded that Garcia
turn the photo over to them. Both flashed badges and guns, even though
Hewiyou apparently is not a police officer. "I'm a fucking cop," said
Oshana. "You better give me the photo or I'll fuck you up."

In front of six corroborating witnesses, Oshana and Hewiyou then punched
Garcia in the face, knocking him down, and then kicked him in the face and
hip. Garcia, who suffered a fractured eye orbital and nose, escaped from
the beating, ran to the nearby Foster District station, and again made a
report. Like many of the victims in the 72 other cases of police violence
investigated by the City, Garcia vainly demanded that the police arrest
one of their own.

Later that evening, Oshana's partner radioed him to let him know that
Foster District police had identified Oshana as the suspected attacker.
Oshana in turn telephoned his watch commander, Lt. Cohnen, who told Oshana
to evade arrest. Instead of advising Oshana to turn himself in, Cohnen
told him to stay at home and that if located by police or arrested, to
phone Cohnen immediately. If police did not find him, Cohnen advised
Oshana, "then don't worry about it."

Over the next year and half, Garcia and his family received numerous
threats of violence, including death threats, from Oshana and his
associates, but still police refused to arrest or discipline Oshana, until
Garcia filed the civil suit naming a sergeant in the City's Internal
Affairs Department (IAD).

As part of the cover-up, evidence from States Attorneys' files shows that
IAD's Sgt. Joe Fivelson crudely backdated a request for prosecution to
make it appear as though Garcia's suit was not what caused the City to
act. However, in a supplementary report, Fivelson wrote that "the battery
victim filed a Federal Civil Suit (01 C8934) which prompted contacting ASA
Ann Head, Public Integrity Section for determination of possible charges."
In a deposition Fivelson testified that when he heard that Oshana told
Hewiyou that the police would "cover up" the fact that Hewiyou hit Garcia,
Fivelson "chuckled about it" and didn't bother to ask any follow up
questions.

In addition to their police being found guilty of covering up the criminal
violence by officers, the City potentially faces further sanctions as the
cover-up spread beyond the police department. City attorneys Darcy Proctor
and Sherry Baldwin, the police's Office of Professional Standards, and
their Internal Affairs Department are likely to face contempt of court
proceedings. Potentially critical pages were missing from many documents
ordered from the city, many were produced well after discovery, and a
critical witness was withheld until the last minute. At one point Judge
James Holderman angrily exclaimed to City attorneys, "I have the distinct
feeling that you don't want me to review the evidence." And then when the
City was caught concealing the witness, Holderman shouted at Baldwin, "Is
there anything else you want to lie to me about?"

The surprise witness turned out to be one Kenneth Boudreau, a Chicago
police officer with one of the most notorious reputations for misconduct
on the entire 13,500-member force. Boudreau once was a close associate of
Lt. Commander Jon Burge, the ringleader of an infamous police torture ring
at Chicago Area Two police headquarters during the 1970s, 80s and early
90s. Burge and other officers were found by Amnesty International and the
city's Goldston Commission to be conducting systematic torture using
electrical shock to the genitals, Russian Roulette, suffocations and
burnings of dozens of African American suspects to get them to "confess"
to crimes.

Boudreau's record of alleged brutality and misconduct lasted well past the
Burge era. A lengthy December 17, 2001 Chicago Tribune article about
Boudreau noted that

"He has obtained a [murder] confession from a man who, records show, was
in jail when the murder occurred He helped to get confessions from two
mentally retarded teenagers for two separate murder cases, but they both
were acquitted. And he got the confession of a 13-year-old with severe
learning disabilities who experts said could not understand his rights
Boudreau has been accused by defendants of punching, slapping or kicking
them; interrogating a juvenile without a youth officer present; and of
taking advantage of mentally retarded suspects and others with low IQs."

Little substantive testimony was given by Boudreau in the trial as he is
currently assigned to the Drug Enforcement Agency and the Federal Bureau
of Investigation, and federal regulations prohibit federal employees from
testifying in civil suits except with special permission by the Federal
Marshall's office. Thanks to the last minute revelation by the City that
Boudreau was a witness and employed by the DEA and FBI, it was impossible
to get that permission in time for the trial. When City attorneys claimed
that they didn't know of Boudreau's federal connections preventing his
testimony, Holderman exclaimed that "It seems to me that the City has put
its head in the sand for fear of finding out what it should know. Is it a
constitutional violation or ineptitude?"

Despite the City's best efforts at concealment, the Garcia v. Chicago
lawsuit forced it to reveal the City's systemic failure to discipline its
officers. Among the critical documents revealed was a policy memo from the
Office of Professional Standards (OPS), the police agency charged with
investigating alleged police misconduct. The OPS memo outlined the limited
criteria under which the City would refer alleged cases of criminal police
violence to the Cook County States Attorney's office for prosecution.
Though even these limited criterion were routinely ignored, they were
instructive as to how the City actually operates. Among the criteria for
referring a case for prosecution was not necessarily the facts of the
case, but whether the alleged violence was a "media case" - i.e., public
pressure, or the lack of it, determined whether or not OPS allowed the
incident to be criminally prosecuted.

Thanks to Garcia's lawsuit, Officer Oshana and his alleged associate in
the Latin Kings gang, Sargon Hewiyou, are now under criminal indictment
for felony aggravated battery in the Feb. 2, 2001 attack, and Oshana faces
several counts of official misconduct. In addition to the photo which
caught Oshana flashing a Latin Kings gang sign, Oshana's alleged boss in
the Latin Kings gang, Ozzie Younan, posed for a photo flashing the Kings
gang sign while wearing Oshana's badge hung around his neck with a gun in
his lap. Oshana is also under investigation for allegedly stealing drugs
from police drug busts, and giving them to his fellow Latin Kings members
for resale on the street. Hewiyou is accused of impersonating an officer
not only in the Feb. 2001 attack, but also in at least two other incidents
at the Chromium Nightclub, 817 W. Lake Street, where he worked as a
part-time bouncer.

The Chicago Anti-Bashing Network assisted George Garcia and the law firm
of Loevy and Loevy by organizing court watch and publicity for the case.

www.CABN.org add your own comments






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