Rita King: Cop Fractures Woman’s Face, Says "I'm Going to Push Your Nose Through Your Brain"

http://www.alternet.org/news-amp-politics/cop-fractures-womans-face-says-im-going-push-your-nose-through-your-brain

March 18, 2013  |    

On Wednesday, a victim of police brutality filed a lawsuit against a Chicago police officer as well as the city of Chicago. According to Courthouse News Service, in Apr. 2011, Chicago police appeared at Rita King’s door after a domestic disturbance complaint. King was approached by a police officer with a taser, arrested and then taken to the police station. She remained handcuffed to a table while she was questioned. Then, allegedly, she refused to be fingerprinted until someone explained why she was under arrest. A police officer responded: “We know somebody who can get your fingerprints.”

In entered police commander Glenn Evans who pressed his fist into King’s nose for three to five minutes, repeatedly saying, “I’m going to push your nose through your brain.” King bled profusely, was fingerprinted and was finally released from the station. She attempted to walk home, but lost consciousness after one block. When she woke up 30 minutes later, she managed to call a friend who brought her to the hospital where it was determined she suffered a facial fracture.

Evans has faced at least five other lawsuits as a Chicago police officer in the past. According to SJ&A attorneys, in 2006, an employee of Chicago’s Water Department named Rennie Simmons knocked on Evans door to deliver a notice for an overdue bill. Evans beat up Simmons, and preceded to choke him. Evans relented only after Simmons screamed that he was a stroke patient. Simmons went back to his car, called 911 and was shocked when he was arrested, not Evans.

In 2008, a college student named Cordell Simmons was brought into the station for a drug-related arrest. When Evans felt he wasn’t cooperating with police, he had Cordell stripped and held down while he tasered his groin. 

Both of these lawsuits settled before reaching trial.

Despite all this, Evans was promoted to from lieutenant to commander in August 2012.

According to the Chicago Sun-Times, King states in the lawsuit that the Chicago police carry on a “code of silence” in which the officers’ loyalty to each other hinders them from revealing misconduct.

In the suit King states, “This de facto policy encourages Chicago Police officers to engage in misconduct with impunity and without fear of official consequences.”