On Sunday, a video was posted to Facebook that appeared to show an off-duty police officer choking a Black teen and threatening him for being on his lawn in a Chicago suburb.
As of Tuesday morning, the video, posted online by Ann Falls, has been viewed 2.8 million times.
Police said that the incident took place after police had been called to the scene of a fight involving around 30 juveniles, two of whom evidently ended up on the property owned by the off-duty officer.
“An off-duty Lansing police officer, outside on his personal property, became involved when he was approached by two other subjects involved in the fight. One of the juveniles had visible minor injuries, and the other was temporarily detained for further investigation until the arrival of on-duty officers,” police said in a statement issued Monday. “The juvenile’s parents were ultimately contacted, and they were transported home pending further investigation.”
On Tuesday evening, the village issued a statement describing how the fight went down: a 12-year-old Black male claimed that a 15-year-old white male gave him a beverage that might have contained drugs. The older brother of the 12-year-old then confronted the 15-year-old along with his friends, though the juveniles involved fled the area.
That’s where the off-duty officer came in. He apparently found one of the juveniles on his property, and the young man said that he had been part of a fight. At that point, another juvenile wearing a backpack came on the scene.
“Both of the juveniles attempted to leave at that point in time. The off-duty officer told them to stay until the arrival of the police,” the release from police said. “The juveniles refused to stay and attempted to leave, resulting in the off-duty officer physically detaining one of the juveniles.”
In the video, the officer starts out on top of the teen and can be heard to say, “If you come back on my property again, I’m going to (expletive) kill you.”
When the teen tries to ask why he is being detained and insists that he is “not involved in this,” the officer replies, “I don’t give a (expletive) who is, don’t you understand that?”
Lansing Police Chief Dennis Murrin said that the officer is still on active duty. No arrests were made on the scene.
