Chicago Cops Who Allegedly Sodomized Man With Screwdriver Need to Be Fired: Online Petition

CHICAGO, IL — An online petition is demanding the Chicago Police Department fire two officers accused of sodomizing a 20-year-old man with a screwdriver during an alleyway strip search in 2004.

The officers were found liable for an unreasonable search during a 2007 civil trial, and an internal police investigation at the time uncovered screwdrivers and traces of human fecal matter in the glove compartment of their squad car. A recent report by Shaun King of the New York Daily News revealed that the officers were still on the force.

"Not only should these men be permanently removed from the police force, they should be in prison," the Care2 petition states.

As of Thursday afternoon, more than 15,000 online signatures had been collected. The petition has a goal of 25,000 signatures.

In August of 2004, Coprez Coffie accused officers Scott Korhonen and Gerald Lodwich of handcuffing and driving him to an alley to be strip-searched for drugs, according to King's report. Coffie then claims Korhonen sodomized him with a screwdriver while Lodwich watched.

The officers took Coffie to the police station, and he was charged with drug possession, according to coverage of the 2007 trial. That same day, Coffie reported the injuries he suffered from the assault to police, as well as to St. Mary of Nazareth Hospital.

The city paid Coffie $4 million in damages as part of a settlement after the civil verdict, but the officers never faced criminal charges. King's report discovered that Korhonen is still earning a department salary of $87,384, while Lodwich is making $90,618 on the force.

More via the New York Daily News

Photo via Patch archives

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