Plaintiff:
Roberto Macias Gonzalez, Jr.
Incident date:
03/18/2008
Location:
2700 S. Trumball Ave.
Allegations:
Gonzalez was in front of a bar with his cousin in the South Lawndale neighborhood when officers handcuffed his hands behind his back and placed him facedown on the ground. The officers beat Gonzalez while he was on the ground. Additional officers arrived at the scene. Sgt. Hughes told his fellow officers to stand back, then tased Gonzalez for an excessive amount of time. Hughes shocked Gonzalez at least one more time after that. Then the officers beat Gonzalez and placed him in a hog-tied position -- his hands cuffed behind his back and his legs shackled. Throughout the incident, Gonzalez displayed obvious signs of distress and difficulty breathing. He was overweight, intoxicated and possibly high on cocaine. One of the officers pepper-sprayed Gonzalez in the face, brought him to the squad car and finally dropped him on the side of the car. They placed him in the squad car in the same hog-tied position. Gonzalez was eventually taken to the hospital, where he died later that night.