A Black family is suing the Chicago police department for allegedly breaking down their door and pointing guns at two children before attempting to cover up that they had no evidence for the raid, The Associated Press reported Wednesday.
The Winters family filed the lawsuit Tuesday for police wrongfully raiding their home, which has reportedly become a frequent occurrence for people of color in the city.
On the night of Aug. 7, 2019, the children, two girls aged 4 and 9, were reportedly sitting on the bed when police charged in the room without warning or a warrant. Police pointed their guns at the sisters’ father, Steven Winters, whose back was later knelt on by an officer with a gun to the back of his head. Another officer charged into the girls’ room and pointed a flashlight and a gun at them, while a third officer pointed a gun at the children’s sleeping grandfather.
The incident reportedly left the children with “lasting trauma … in the form of nightmares, bed-wetting, trouble sleeping, decreased appetite, crying fits and fear and distrust of police,” according to the AP.
The police department reportedly tried to cover up the incident by claiming they saw and heard a suspect run into the apartment, but these claims were proven false by the body camera footage that Al Hofeld Jr., the family’s attorney, acquired through an open records request. The city has yet to release body cam footage of the incident.
“They do not show anyone entering or exiting plaintiffs’ building or plaintiffs’ apartment,” the lawsuit said according to the AP. “Officers did not find any sign that any suspect had entered. Officers did not arrest anyone. The terror and stress to this innocent family was all for naught. ”
However, this is not the first incident where police used excessive force during a botched raid. Chicago has reportedly been plagued with false raids against people of color.
In February 2019, a woman’s home was wrongfully raided and she was handcuffed naked for 30 minutes. Police later discovered they had the wrong home and attempted to prevent the release of the body cam footage.
The city has reportedly spent hundreds of millions of dollars on police misconduct cases, AP noted.