Last year, police officers reportedly arrested Alexander Ruppert, 37, for causing a disturbance at Chicago's Uptown Lounge. He was “charged with resisting arrest, disorderly conduct and two counts of aggravated battery to a police officer” according to the Chicago Tribune. What happened after the arrest, however, Ruppert's attorney Jon Erickson says, was “a hate crime disguised as policework.”
The Tribune reports: “According to Ruppert's lawsuit, two officers asked him to leave the bar and put him in the back of a squad car but didn't handcuff him or arrest him. The officers have not been charged with a crime. They made ‘vulgar comments referring to his sexual orientation' and after driving him a block away from club, hit him in his face and on his head while calling him names, according to the lawsuit. Ruppert weighs about 120 pounds, while the officers each weigh more than 200 pounds, Erickson said . Ruppert told the officers he was HIV-positive and pleaded for medical attention, the lawsuit said. The officers took him to Weiss Memorial Hospital, where he received 16 stitches for a cut under his left eye and other treatment, the suit said. Simonton said that according to the initial charges, Ruppert was ‘injured during the transport to the police station,' but she had no further details. The two officers were treated for injuries at a hospital, Simonton said. Ruppert's lawsuit claimed that the officers' injuries were not legitimate and included an injury to a knuckle that one officer suffered while punching Ruppert.”
Ruppert also says that while in police custody for two days, he was forced to drink water from the toilet when he was thirsty and was not given food. Officers have so far refused to testify about the incident in court, causing felony charges against Ruppert to be dropped.
Here's a video report from CBS2 Chicago.
According to the paper, “The lawsuit against the city and the two officers seeks unspecified damages for excessive force, battery, unlawful seizure and malicious prosecution.”
Suit alleges Chicago police beat gay man [chicago tribune]
Lawsuit: Police Beat Chicago Man Because He Is Gay [cbs2 chicago]
