Blast from the Past, an old article by Mike Royko, NIGHT ENCOUNTER WITH CITY'S FINEST IS WORST KIND

https://www.chicagotribune.com/news/ct-xpm-1997-02-21-9702210106-story.html

Feb 1997


While it was humiliating, painful and shocking, the experience of Richard Velazquez is a good thing.

Before I get into why it was good, let's deal with his experience.

On Tuesday night, Velazquez and a friend were in his car, near Sheridan Road and Loyola Avenue, about to go somewhere to give a lift to another friend.

When they got in the car, Velazquez tried to use the CD player, but it was jammed.

So he began trying to get it unjammed. While he was doing this a squad car pulled up and one of the two cops shone a flashlight in the window and asked what he was doing.

"Right away, I knew what he'd think," says Velazquez. "That we were a couple of Hispanic guys stealing something. So I told him, `Don't worry, relax, it's my car.'

"I kept saying things like that. And he said: `You relax, or do you want my foot up your ass?'

"So I got out of the car and started to take out my ID. Then he slammed me against the car."

Velazquez isn't sure what angered the cop. But he was suddenly punched in the nose, which broke.

And the cop--a big guy at about 6 feet and 240 pounds--threw several more punches.

"I tried to move away. I didn't fight back or anything. I just put my arms up to avoid getting hit. Then he hit me on the head with the flashlight.

"And I was sort of sliding along the car, trying to avoid being hit, so he tackled me and we went down on the ground. He was yelling for me to put my hands behind my back, but with him on top of me, I was having a hard time. I kept telling him: `I'm trying to put my hands behind my back.'

"So he got me in a choke hold and I could hardly breathe. The chokehold increased the pressure on my head, so the blood was really coming out of my nose and the cut on my head.

"I finally got my hands behind my back, and the other officer put the cuffs on me.

"The policeman who hit me looked at the CD player. He saw that it was jammed.

"My friend, Carlos Sanchez, asked him: "Why did you hit him so much?'

"The policeman said: `The last time I had something like this, I got my jaw broken.'

So why did I begin by saying this incident was a good thing?

Because Velazquez, 20, who got the busted nose, and Sanchez, 22, who saw the whole thing, were in the car at that location because it is near the St. Joseph Seminary.

And both men are seminarians at St. Joseph. Velazquez, who will soon be getting a double degree in philosophy and political science, with a minor in theology, was described by Rev. James Presta, rector of St. Joseph, as "just a wonderful young man. They are both fine young men."

So it is always good when someone like Velazquez gets whacked around by an out-of-control cop. He is believable. And his experience tells us that minorities ain't just blowing smoke when they say that some cops treat them like dirt.

It could have happened to a busboy or a gangbanger. But the media and the police Office of Professional Standards might be less inclined to take it seriously.

Back to the story:

"In the squad car," Velazquez says, "I told them I was a seminarian. The policeman who hit me said: `Oh, maybe you'd like to meet God in an alley.'

Having grown up in the Back of the Yards neighborhood, Velazquez knew that when dealing with a ham-fisted cop who talks about meeting God in an alley, it's best to say as little as possible.

At the station, the other cop brought him wet paper towels so he could clean the blood off his face. Other police officers took him to Edgewater Hospital, where his nose was treated and four stitches were put in his head.

Word that a seminarian from nearby St. Joseph had been roughed up got around the station fast. While Velazquez was still at the hospital, a considerate police sergeant was there to take his story.

When I spoke to the district commander to confirm that the case is being investigated, he sounded almost devastated. Understandably, since this isn't the kind of thing any decent cop wants happening under his command.

Especially with all the corruption and brutality headlines coming out of the West Side's Austin District.

I'm not going to use the allegedly brutal cop's name for the same reason I sometimes omit names from certain kinds of stories.

I couldn't reach him, and it is possible that he has a wife and kids. There's no reason that they should be publicly humiliated if he is a horse's south end.

Velazquez is pursuing the matter and wants the story made public because, "If that policeman is mentally unstable, a dangerous person, he should not be in that job."

Funny thing is, in a fair fight, the seminarian might have mopped up the cop. In high school at a seminary in Wisconsin, Velazquez, was third in the state in wrestling--good enough to be offered college athletic scholarships.

"But I couldn't fight back because he had an advantage--that piece of metal on his chest."