Plaintiff:
Nicole Samuels
Incident date:
07/19/2011
Location:
7133 S. Cornell Ave.
Allegations:
Samuels and Acuna live together with their infant son in a South Shore apartment. Officer Taylor lives in the same building on the second floor. Taylor was friendly with Acuna and Samuels, until becoming hostile toward them. While on duty, Taylor would harass them with tickets and traffic stops. Taylor became focused on a cable box that she had loaned to Samuels and Acuna a year before. Taylor would bang on their door and demand that they return the cable box. One morning after Acuna had left for work and Samuels was alone with the baby, Taylor and her teenage son began banging loudly at the front door. Samuels was afraid to open the door. Taylor proceeded to cut off the power to Samuels' apartment, hoping that the July heat would force her out. Ten minutes after the power was shut off, Samuels was able to reach the building's maintenance person to restore the power. Taylor turned the power off again. This time, Samuels was not able to reach the maintenance person and was forced to run down to the basement, leaving her infant son alone in a high chair. When Samuels entered the basement, Taylor, her teenage son and Officer Kirk confronted her. Taylor demanded Samuels' keys, and struck Samuels in the face several times. Kirk punched her several times. Samuels tried to run into her apartment, but Kirk shoved her into a door and punched her on the face, causing a split lip and a large gash on her head. She was put in a chokehold, handcuffed and dragged down the stairs into the foyer. When additional officers arrived at the scene, Kirk stated that he was an off-duty officer trying to arrest a woman who had battered two officers. The arriving officers told Samuels that she was being arrested and allowed her to wait with her son while her sister and husband arrived. She was taken to the police station, and after pleading for medical treatment was taken to the hospital. She was charged with two misdemeanor complaints of battery. When Acuna went to the police station to see his wife, Kirk confronted and arrested him for misdemeanor assault on an officer.