Protest Planned After Video Shows Oak Lawn Cops Punching Teen They Say Had Gun

OAK LAWN, IL — A video circulating neighborhood social media appears to show two Oak Lawn police officers repeatedly punching a young man while he is restrained face down on the ground. The young man was the passenger in a car that had been pulled over for a traffic violation.

On Wednesday, an Oak Lawn police officer conducted an unspecified traffic stop on the vehicle near Southwest Highway and Austin Ave. During the stop, the young man, who was in the back seat, fled on foot, police said in a statement.

After a brief foot chase, the young man was apprehended near 95th Street and McVicker Avenue. According to Oak Lawn police, the young man was discovered to be armed with a semiautomatic gun after he was restrained.

A passing motorist recorded the end of the arrest in a 52-second video. It appears to show two officers trying to place the young man’s hands behind him, so that he could be handcuffed. One officer appears to be punching the young man’s buttocks, while the other officer starts punching the young man’s neck and face. The two officers are soon joined by a third.

The woman who took the video can be heard saying: “Y’all they [OLPD] beating this li’l boy ... he was running, they grabbed him and started beating him. 95th Southwest Highway.”

Asked about the use of physical force, Oak Lawn Police Chief Dan Vittorio would only say that the young man was “a rear seat passenger that fled from the traffic stop” in a vehicle that was pulled over for an unspecified traffic violation.

“The offender ran from a traffic stop,” Vittorio told Patch in an email. “After a foot pursuit, the offender would not comply with verbal commands and resisted arrest while trying to gain control of a firearm he unlawfully possessed.”

A cousin of the young man posted on Facebook that his cousin was dragged away “almost unconscious” to a patrol car and “screamed in pain for five minutes” before he was taken away in an ambulance to Advocate Christ Medical Center. A photo shows the young on an examination table in the ER wearing a neck brace. The cousin identified the young man as being of Arab American descent.

Oak Lawn police said an officer who was injured during the arrest was also taken to Advocate Christ Hospital. The investigation is ongoing and charges are pending.

A protest was being planned for 4 p.m. Thursday, in front of the Oak Lawn Municipal Center, 9446 S. Raymond Ave.