'Traumatized' family sues Chicago cops after search of home
CHICAGO (AP) - A family has filed a federal lawsuit alleging that Chicago police 'œneedlessly traumatized'ť a 4-year-old girl, her grandmother and an autistic uncle when officers burst into their apartment in February with guns drawn to execute a warrant to search for drugs the family didn't have.
In the excessive force lawsuit filed this week against the city and several officers, the Lyons family alleges that the officers stormed into their apartment in the city's Back of the Yards neighborhood on Feb. 26 based on bad information from an informant that the officers failed to verify before executing the search warrant.
According to Sharon Lyons, the officers pointed their weapons at the family, including her 4-year-old granddaughter, before conducting a search for cocaine and heroin. No drugs were found.
'œI feel like I've been violated,'ť Lyons told reporters during a news conference Thursday. She said there was no need to burst into the apartment because she would have let the officers in if they had knocked.
Having guns pointed at Lyons' 30-year-old autistic son was especially traumatizing for him, said her attorney, Al Hofeld Jr.
'œHe cannot handle stress. He became hysterical," Hofeld said. "He had no idea what was happening at all times. Officers' guns were loaded, with their fingers around the triggers when they were pointing guns at the family.'ť
The lawsuit filed in behalf of the African American family alleges that the search warrant was not an isolated incident and was in fact part of a 'œwidespread practice ... of using excessive force against citizens of color, including children and youth, and against their adult family members in front of the children, which traumatizes them."
A spokeswoman for the city's legal department declined to comment, saying the department had not been served with the lawsuit. The police department declined to comment on what it said is a pending investigation by the Civilian Office of Police Accountability.