Brothers Suing 2 Chicago Cops For Beating Caught On Tape
CHICAGO (CBS) -- Two Chicago police officers are being investigated by the FBI and the Independent Police Review Authority, after beating two brothers at a South Shore storefront. The officers have been relieved of police powers, pending the outcome of the investigation.
Surveillance footage obtained by our CBS 2 Investigators is at the center of that investigation.
CBS 2's Dave Savini gives you an exclusive look into allegations of police abuse.
The video shows a two-officer tactical unit move in at a store. They are handcuffing people, including Jecque Howard, who said he was working at the store.
"I'm getting a gun pointed at me and punched in my face and kicked in my ribs," said Jecque Howard.
Howard said the officers never even said why they were there. He said Officer George Stacker was the first to approach him.
"He came to the front and said 'you work here?', and I said, 'yes'. He said 'well not after today, you're fired,'" explained Howard.
Howard's brother, Paul Neal, was working outside the South Shore shop for a government cell phone program at the time.
As the brothers watched the tape, they said they were still in disbelief about what happened next.
"That's Aldo Brown," they said in unison, while watching the video as Officer Aldo Brown approached Jecque in the store.
"He told me to drop my pants, to take off my pants," said Howard, who did not want to strip, but did lower his pants before the situation got worse.
"I got hit in the right side of my face. He hit me over here on my left side," Howard said, explaining all that happened while his hands were down, and he was not doing anything threatening.
"Then he put his hand around my throat and got to choking me," said Howard. "And then he threw me on the floor and put me in cuffs and while I was in cuffs is when he hit me like two more times in the face and kicked me in the ribs a couple of times. It was kind of scary. It was real scary actually."
Paul Neal said he had a similar run-in with this same officer, Aldo Brown, last year and had filed a complaint. As of Tuesday, the excessive force complaint was still being investigated by the Independent Police Review Authority.
Neal said he wanted to help his brother, but said he was being roughed up outside by the other officer – Stacker.
"He threw me on the car and that's when he started hitting me in my ribs," said Neal.
Neal said a camera recorded him being roughed up outside, but he has not obtained the video yet.
"These guys are just trying to work," said Attorney Tim Fiscella, who represents the brothers who were arrested that day.
Neal was charged with resisting arrest while doing online psychic readings, his part-time job when the police burst through his door.
Howard was charged with having a gun, which he said was for protection while working in that neighborhood. He also had a small amount of cannabis.
All the charges were dismissed, because the officers did not show up to court.
Fiscella said, without the video, there could have been a different outcome in court.
"It's going to be his word against the officers' word," he said.
The brothers have filed a federal lawsuit.
"Somebody's got to do something about this guy," said Neal.
"I would like it if he could get fired," said Howard.
CBS 2 was unable to reach Officer Aldo Brown, but Officer George Stacker did say he felt, "They [Stacker and Brown] followed police guidelines to a T."
However, he would not say on the record why he and Brown failed to show up in court.
