Plaintiff:
Miguel Angel Castillo
Incident date:
03/19/2011
Location:
1649 N. Spaulding Ave.
Allegations:
Castillo, 18, and three friends were walking to a restaurant in Humboldt Park when a police car pulled up next to them and officers Edens and Sweeney got out, drew their guns and began questioning the group. As the officers handcuffed and searched the group, Officers La Casa and Contreras arrived and asked Castillo for his name and address. When he told them, they accused him of lying. Contreras asked Castillo if he was in a gang, and then the officers began taunting the group that the "real" gang in the neighborhood was the Latin Kings. Officers Contreras and La Casa then put Castillo in the back of their police car and threatened to drive him through a neighborhood controlled by the Latin Kings. On the drive, the officers mocked and threatened Castillo. When Castillo questioned why police had arrested him, Contreras stopped the car, got out, opened the back door where Castillo was sitting, and assaulted him. Castillo got back in the car and they continued driving until they stopped in front of a house in territory known to be controlled by Latin Kings and told a small crowd gathered outside, "We got somebody for you." For several minutes, at least 10 men swarmed the car, flashed gang symbols and used racial slurs and insults to threaten Castillo. The officers alternatively stood by and hurled their own insults at Castillo. The officers then drove Castillo to another area in the Latin Kings territory, took him out of the car and drove off. He was never charged with a crime.