Police shoot 12-year-old boy in his bed during pre-dawn raid on suburban Chicago home

[True Dough]

The bullet shattered his kneecap.

A suburban Chicago family filed suit against the local police Thursday alleging that a SWAT team shot and maimed a 12-year-old in his bed during an early morning raid. The incident took place in May at the in Markham, Ill. home of Crystal Worship and her three young sons, all of whom are black and were in bed at the time. According to the civil suit, it was around 5 a.m. when nearly two dozen police officers barged into the house with automatic rifles, throwing flash-bang grenades, and shouting “police, police, police,” while executing a warrant against Worship’s boyfriend Mitchell Thurman, who was also at the house at the time. Thurman was arrested and charged with drug possession and possessing a gun with an expired Illinois state Firearm Owner’s Identification card, but the criminal case against him was dismissed weeks later.

The raid, however, had a far more lasting impact on Worship’s sons, particularly 12-year-old Amir Worship. The Washington Post describes the scene in the young boy’s bedroom:

… the sounds of the raid had roused Amir. Seconds later, the door of his bedroom flew open. An officer barged in, aiming a flashlight and automatic rifle at the boy, shouting at him to put his hands up, the suit claimed… As that officer searched the room, another one came in with his weapon trained on Amir, the lawsuit said. The second officer, described in the complaint as Caucasian, ordered Amir to put on his shoes. But when the boy tried to obey, the officer snatched one shoe away and examined it with his flashlight, all while keeping his gun aimed at Amir, the suit claimed.

The gun was allegedly not on the “safety lock position” even though “the room had already been cleared … and it was obvious that Amir was a child who was no threat to officers,” the lawsuit said. Then, as the officer was giving Amir the shoe back, he “quickly moved his right hand back to the handle and trigger of his rifle, grabbing it and firing it…”

https://slate.com/news-and-politics/2019/08/chicago-illinois-police-shot-12-year-old-black-boy-in-bed-kneecap.html

[sakabatou]

1. Good god....

[Shrike47]

2. They are not asking for enough money. That injury could hurt for 70 years and cripple him.

[Control-Z]

4. Nowhere near enough.

The amount they're asking probably wouldn't cover his medical expenses for even a year. They need a new lawyer.

Hopefully there will be enough publicity from this article to grab the attention of a great lawyer.

[Doodley]

3. Pathetic excuse for a policeman.

[rockfordfile]

5. Why isn't that cop in jail for attempted murder?

[Crunchy Frog]

6. Treat those kinds of cops like the rabid animals they are.

The PD should be sued for millions, and it should come out of the pension fund.

[radius777]

7. and the El Paso shooter was treated so nicely

when he was taken into custody.

America at it's core is a white supremacist state, with the authorities enforcing that ideology.

[Demovictory9]

8. $50k? they should sue for a lot more

[Richard D]

9. Only 50,000 in damages?

The poor child will be partly crippled for the rest of his life. Why such a paltry sum?

[Mc Mike]

10. Kneecapped a 12 year old. What a hero.

[Mike_DuBois]

11. Of the story is accurate, negligent discharge

Should be fired immediately. Removed from. SWAT at minimum.