Children 5 and 9 were traumatized at gunpoint, complaint alleges; bodycam footage shows CPD officers continuing to search, even after acknowledging they were in “the wrong f—ing apartment.”
CHICAGO — The Mendez Family has waited nearly eight years for justice, after heavily armed Chicago Police Department officers—serving a warrant on the wrong apartment—broke in their door without warning, stormed into their home screaming expletives, and pointed guns, including an M4 assault rifle, at their two young children. On Monday, a federal jury will finally hear their story and decide what damages they may be due for the disastrously botched raid.
According to the complaint, on November 7, 2017, while executing a search warrant for the wrong apartment, Chicago police officers repeatedly pointed and held guns directly at Jack and Peter Mendez, ages 5 and 9, as well as at their mother and father in the boys’ presence, while in the family’s home. On the bodycam footage, Peter can be heard crying and pleading for officers not to shoot and kill his father. The two officers who pointed guns at the children chose not to activate their body cams, despite the clear requirement that they do so.
Meanwhile, footage shows officers continuing to search the family’s apartment, even after acknowledging to each other on tape that they were in “the wrong f—ing apartment.”
The complaint asks a jury to rule on damages related to thirteen violations of the family’s rights under state and federal law, including false arrest, unlawful search, trespass, assault, battery, and infliction of emotional distress. Additionally, the lawsuit accuses the City of Chicago itself of bearing responsibility for these events. As a 2017 Department of Justice report concluded, law enforcement officers working for the City of Chicago have engaged in a widespread practice of using excessive force against the City’s children, including by pointing guns at them. The City’s failures of training, policy, and supervision when it comes to law enforcement and children “have resulted in traumatic, long-term, psychological injuries to children all across Chicago, especially and disproportionately children of color.”
In 2019, as a result of this incident, Gov. Pritzker signed the “Peter Mendez Act”—named for the family’s oldest son—requiring Illinois police officers to receive training on how children experience trauma, and training on de-escalation tactics for when children are involved.
The trial, which is expected to last two weeks, will get underway on Monday, April 21st at 9:00 a.m., before the Honorable Franklin U. Valderrama in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Illinois.
| WHAT: Jury selection and opening statements in Mendez v. City of Chicago WHEN: Monday, April 21, beginning at 9:00 A.M. WHERE: Courtroom 1941, Everett McKinley Dirksen United States Courthouse, 219 South Dearborn Street, Chicago, IL WHO: The Mendez Family is represented by attorneys Julia Rickert and Justin Hill of Loevy + Loevy, and Al Hofeld, Jr. and Zach Hofeld of The Law Offices of Al Hofeld, Jr. LLC. |
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Copies of the complaint in this case can be found here.
