Plaintiff:
Ernest K. Darko
Incident date:
06/15/2013
Location:
5399 S. Laflin St.
Allegations:
Darko had pulled over to drop a friend off at her home. His friend ran inside to get Darko some money when an unmarked SUV pulled up next to Darko's passenger side door. Officer Najm told Darko to leave the area, and Darko explained he was waiting for his friend to return. Najm got out of the SUV and tried to open Darko's driver side door while Najm's partner pulled the SUV directly in front of Darko's car. Darko provided Najm his license and insurance, and Najm asked him to completely lower his driver side window. When Darko did not lower the window, Najm struck the window with a baton several times. The other officer then exited the SUV and approached Darko with a gun drawn. Darko raised his hands and lowered the driver side window more. Najm reached into Darko's car and unlocked the car doors as other police officers arrived on the scene. The officers forcibly removed Darko from the car as Najm punched him in the face. They began to kick him, strike him and at one point called him an animal. The officers searched Darko's car and took him to a hospital. Darko was then put in lockup at a police station until he was released later that day. Darko was falsely charged with battery to a police officer and resisting arrest, but all criminal charges were dismissed.