Off-site video that saved woman from felony charge is now supporting a $150K civil rights settlement
An off-site security video that saved a Chicago tanning salon manager from a felony charge is also helping her to win a likely $150,000 settlement in her federal civil rights case against the city concerning a raid at the north side business last year.
The city council’s finance committee has recommended the settlement with plaintiff Jianqing Klyzek. Leslie Darling, who serves as first deputy corporation counsel for the city law department, said “comments from police that we believe could inflame a jury” that are recorded on the video could result in a much bigger jury award if the case went to trial, the Chicago Tribune reports.
Klyzek became hysterical as plainclothes officers strode into the salon followed by uniformed officers and she began struggling after one grabbed her arm. An officer exclaimed that she had bitten him, and within seconds the petite woman was on her knees with her hands cuffed behind her back.
As she continued to scream, video footage shows that a police officer standing behind her slapped her head, a second asked, “Can I just Tase her? F— it. I can Tase her 10 f—ing times” and a third officer standing in front of her began yelling, the Chicago Tribune reported earlier.
“You’re not a f—ing American,” the video shows the third officer shouting at Klyzek. “I’ll put you in a UPS box and send you back to wherever the f— you came from!”
The city council is expected to decide Wednesday whether to approve the settlement.
Attorney Torreya Hamilton represents Klyzek and said the case is about more than money, as far as her client, a U.S. citizen who emigrated from China, is concerned. “It was about asserting her rights, as a valuable, contributing citizen,” Hamilton told the newspaper. “In the video you can hear her saying ‘I’m a citizen, I have rights,’ and that’s what this was about to her.”
Klyzek was charged with aggravated battery after the raid, but prosecutors dropped the case earlier this year after her counsel gave them a copy of the video.
See also:
ABAJournal.com: “Off-site security video saves woman from felony charge, is now evidence in federal civil rights case”
