Good evening Mayor McLeod, ladies and gentlemen of the village board,
officials of Hoffman Estates, and members of the audience.
I am here tonight because of the criminal case that the police and
Village of Hoffman Estates are pursuing against me. Two months ago
I presented a letter to the mayor and the chief of police with an offer
to settle this matter. To this day I have not received a response.
Why has the village not responded to my letter?
What occurred to me and my family at our home at the hands of the Hoffman
Estates police on August 15, 2006 is not a trivial matter. It has
weighed heavily on me and my family and it should be a matter of serious
concern for the members of the board, the officials of the village and
the public.
What happened to me and my family is extremely disturbing and troubling.
The consequences of this case reach much further than the boundaries of
Hoffman Estates.
After I had noticed a car with three heavily-armed men prowling around
my house for two nights in a row, I called 911 to express my concern and
ask for help. My first concern was for the safety of my family and
children.
Fifteen minutes later I was shocked to see the very same suspicious
car in front of my house with three heavily-armed men standing on my driveway
confronting my wife and 8-year-old daughter.
Extremely concerned, I ran out to my wife and child and asked these
men who they were and what they were doing at my house.
It should be noted that these men, wearing civilian clothes and body
armor, adamantly refused to identify themselves or explain what they were
doing. It actually took us one month to learn the identities of these
men. Most importantly, they did not say that they were responding
to my 911 call. So what were they doing at my house?
I asked these men to identify themselves and explain what they were
doing prowling around my neighborhood with body armor and weapons, but
they refused. Faced with three heavily-armed men who would not identify
themselves or explain their business, I said that I needed to get my brother
from the house.
I turned and went toward my house when I was suddenly attacked from
behind and thrown to the ground. My left hand was handcuffed immediately
and my right hand was pinned beneath my body. One man knelt with
his full body weight on the side of my head while the other knelt on my
right elbow, which he broke in the process.
At this point, with two men kneeling on me and unable to move my head
or hands, I felt a square object pushed against my back. What followed
next is hard to describe.
It felt like electrocution, an extremely painful shock running through
my entire body. When it ended, I was offended to my core and felt
deeply insulted and injured.
I ask, why was this TASER shock of 50,000 volts given to me?
How was this justified?
And why was medical attention not given to me immediately on the scene
or during the 6 hours I was held in a prison cell without water.
When I was pulled to my feet I saw that there were many police cars, an
ambulance, and a fire truck on the scene but I was denied any medical attention
the entire time I was in police custody. Why?
Adding insult to injury, I was taken away in a police car and insulted
continuously by an officer named Fitzgerald. When he put me in a
cell without water, he told me to drink from the toilet.
While I was held in the cell, the police began crafting a report that
is full of lies and fabrications. This report is the basis of their
case against me, a case in which I have been charged with resisting arrest
and aggravated assault on a peace officer.
These charges are preposterous and Kafkaesque. There was no reason
to arrest me and I neither committed, nor suggested that I would commit,
assault against anyone at any time.
Furthermore, when these men were on my driveway, I had no way of knowing
if they were from the police or not. Why would the chief of police
send a tactical squad of three armed men to answer a non-emergency 911
call? Especially when this heavily-armed squad was the object of
my fears and concern?
I have seen the police report of this incident and can tell you with
100 percent certainty that it is full of lies, fabrications, and distortions.
Why is this happening? What do the police hope to achieve with this
malicious and dishonest report? Is this the way police business is
done in Hoffman Estates?
As the great Reverend Martin Luther King, Jr. said in his letter from
Birmingham Jail on April 16, 1963, "Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice
everywhere."
The unjust attack and TASERing I was subjected to last August is a
concern for all Americans and people around the world. The supposedly
"non-lethal" TASER kills Americans every week. This hideous weapon
is considered a tool of torture in nearly every nation on the planet.
The unjustified assault on me in front of my wife and child and the
completely egregious abuse of the TASER weapon on me is a very serious
matter. I would hope that you would appreciate the importance of
this matter and act accordingly.
Why are the elected officials and the members of the village board
silent about this? Why have you not answered my letter of last November?
Why do you tolerate such corruption of the truth to be presented by your
police force in a court of law against a resident of the village?
What do you hope to achieve by such dishonesty?
As Dr. King said, "Our lives begin to end the day we become silent
about things that matter."
I will not be silent about this and I will fight this abuse of police
power with every ounce of energy and fiber of my being. I am an innocent
man who was unjustly beaten and TASERed in front of my wife and tender
8-year-old daughter. This malicious attack has scarred me and my
family for life.
I would seriously advise the village elders to look at the complete
police report, which is in the court, and ask the three officers if they
are willing to take the oath that what is in that report is the truth,
because my wife and I, along with my 8-year-old daughter saw what happened
on my front lawn that awful day and it is not what is presented in that
report. The position of Hoffman Estates rests on that report and
I can tell you that it is a pack of lies.
In concluding, I want to offer you this thought from the great Martin
Luther King, who we honor today:
"I believe that unarmed truth and unconditional love will have the
final word in reality. This is why right, temporarily defeated, is stronger
than evil triumphant."
Thank you and good night. |
This photo shows Al Capone with deputy chief of police John Stege.
