Woman Says Officer Put Knee On Her Neck Outside Brickyard Mall

Police outside Brickyard Mall

A swarm of police officers drew their batons and beat down the windows as they took two women out of their vehicle outside the Brickyard Mall.

It was all recorded on camera.

The incident took place on Sunday, right in the height of looting amid unrest in Chicago. A family pulled into the parking lot at Brickyard, at 2600 N. Narragansett Ave., just to realize things were closed and out of control.

But before they could leave, they were stopped by officers who thought they had been involved in looting too.

“They just start bamming and hitting at my car, then they bust out three windows,” said Tnika Tate. “I feared for my life.”

Police surrounded the vehicle. Tate, her cousin Mia Wright, and others were inside the vehicle.

The family claims officers had stormed their vehicle – breaking windows and pulling them out of the car without any reason.

But what they count most is that when Wright was pulled out from the car and then one officer took her down by putting his knee on her back and neck.

“They approached my car so forcefully where they just started bamming and hitting at my vehicle, then they bust out three windows of mine, and then they actually tore off my door handle – the passenger side door handle – and they literally drug my little cousin Mia out to the ground,” Tate stated.

“I felt like an animal,” Wright said. “They pulled me by my hair, dragged me out the vehicle, had my face down on the concrete. The officer had his knee in my neck. I just felt like an animal. I felt like I was not nothing, like I was not even a human being at that moment.”

Wright had been arrested on charges of disorderly conduct. The Civilian Office of Police Accountability has started an investigation, and Mayor Lori Lightfoot has talked about what she knows as well.

“I have observed the video, and we are doing what we normally do is when we see potential allegations of police misconduct, it gets referred to COPA for quick investigation,” Mayor Lightfoot said.

Officers did seize the car, but it was later released and had severe damages. The family insisted they were never given an explanation, nor an apology.

Wright did have some glass in her eye, but emotional scars she stated are going to outweigh the physical pain.