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A woman whose 12 year-old child was shot by police in a dawn raid is suing.
On 26 May 2019, according to the lawsuit filed by Crystal Worship, the mother, some two dozen Country Club Hills and Richton Park, Illinois SWAT officers entered her home in May with exploding flash-grenades and automatic rifles to execute a search warrant intended for her boyfriend. During the raid, her son, Amir, was allegedly shot by a white officer as he sat on his bed with his hands in the air and suffered a shattered kneecap.
Blasting News reported “As Amir started screaming, Ms Worship asked officers in the next room if they were “shooting” the children, the lawsuit says. Officers allegedly refused to tell her what happened and “lied to her and told her they shot someone walking past outside.” (-as if that were somehow acceptable or reassuring).
One child was cuffed and left in a police car according to the mother, and flash grenades were used at 5am, terrorizing the household.
Were the police looking for dangerous terrorists, a cache of guns? They were looking for Ms Worship’s boyfriend who had been accused of drug possession. Those charges were since dropped. And in the meantime, “According to an orthopedic doctor, Amir will not be able to play any sports again, will have difficulty in physical education, will walk with a limp, and will have difficulty walking and running for the rest of his life,” the lawsuit states.
The increasingly militarization of civil police forces is an issue – and people are being shot, killed, harmed. Should someone sought for drug possession lead to 24 gun-toting police to break into a house? It seems rights are a thing of the past.
ACTION
Please contact Illinois Governor J B Pritzker through one of the channels below and give him the following message, personalized to your liking:
I am pleased to know you are looking after citizens’ rights and will not allow ICE to operate private facilities in the state. I agree ICE is out of control and denying people their basic rights: but so are your increasingly-militarized police force.
I read about the lawsuit filed by Crystal Worship after bungling, dangerously inept police raided her home, terrorised her family with flash grenades at 5am, had some 2 dozen masked, camouflaged, gun-brandishing men round her and her children up. The reason? Her boyfriend was wanted on some sort of drug charge that was later dropped. And in case you didn’t know: they shot her 12-year-old child in the knee, and he will never play sports again.
Who is paying for all this military hardware, police time and planning over a drugs possession charge? How many such raids are taking place? How are they getting authorized? With financial pressures on the state, is it really appropriate to continue like this? What about rights? Who will pay for this family’s suffering and their medical bills?
The situation is a disgrace and it needs sorting out at the gubernatorial level – clearly the police have lost all sense of perspective. I expect to see you take action to help this specific family and to ensure that this kind of senseless, rights-destroying, terrifying raid is a rarity used only in the most extreme cases. I expect to hear from you by reply.
Phone: 217-782-6830 or 217-782-6831
Email: (form) https://www2.illinois.gov/sites/gov/contactus/Pages/AssistanceRequest.aspx
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/GovPritzker/
Twitter: https://twitter.com/JBPritzker
Once you have made contact, fill out the three fields below and click the orange banner to report taking action!