Cop Owns Racially Offensive Websites: Suit
(CBS) – The city of Chicago appears to be ready to hand out big bucks for the actions of an abusive cop.
But there's an even more explosive revelation: Lawyers for the victim say this officer also owned web domains with highly offensive racist titles.
CBS 2 Political Reporter Derrick Blakley has more.
"I have to try to push past this, but it's hard," says Patassa Johnson.
Back in 2014, the medical assistant medical assistant was driving home on a Chicago expressway when she was pulled over by a state trooper for allegedly driving drunk. She was taken to the 11th District and allegedly beaten by Chicago Police Sgt. George Granias while she was in handcuffs.
The beating was so bad her injuries were documented on video at Cook County Jail. They included scratches and bruises.
It led to a federal lawsuit.
"She was beat up at the police station by a Chicago police sergeant because she was a vocal black woman," says Brendan Shiller, Johnson's attorney.
Perhaps more disturbing, Shiller's legal team uncovered websites with racist names owned by Granias.
They have domain names that begin with the N-word – for example, "(N-word)guns."
"His hobby is apparently buying names of racist websites," the attorney says.
The city won't confirm Granias owned the websites, but Shiller says this: "I can tell you this, there's been no denial that these websites were owned by the sergeant."
That discovery, Shiller says, led City Hall to settle the case for $185,000.
That's little comfort to Johnson.
"He needs to be fired. If he's fired, then I'm happy because I know he will not be able to do it to anyone else," she says.
Chicago police have opened an internal investigation into the websites owned by Sgt. Granias.
All charges against Johnson have been dropped, with her settlement is awaiting approval by the city council.
Granias, reached Wednesday by CBS 2, declined comment on the pending abuse settlement and on ownership of the offensive websites.
