Watch as the mother of the kids speaks at a news conference in the video below.
Video credit: WGN News
Chicago police have been sued after they conducted a wrong raid and ruined a four-year-old’s birthday party.
According to the lawsuit, at least 17 officers with their guns drawn raided the Bures’ home where they smashed the still untouched birthday cake to the ground and terrorized the family.
The incident which happened at the South Side home on February 10 traumatized the Bures, besides ruining the birthday party of little Terrence Jackson, Jr.
Cops were serving a search warrant to look for a drug-possessing suspect but he had left the residence more than five years ago.
On March 26, the child’s aunt Kiqiana Jackson and mother Stephanie Bures filed a federal civil rights lawsuit against the Chicago Police Department as well as the City of Chicago for the disturbing incident.
The family claims cops terrorized them by smashing the cake to the ground and pointing their guns at little Terrence and his seven-year-old sister Samari.
After toppling the cake, one of the officers mockingly stuck a number four candle in its center.
‘It was a cruel, dehumanizing joke that mocked and symbolized a 4-year-old’s ruined birthday party,’ attorney Al Hofeld said of the incident.
The family says their children have been badly terrified by the raid and have even gone mistrustful of police officers.
Bures says Terrence and Samari don’t want to leave the home and are having nightmares about the incident.
In a press conference Tuesday, Bures said while fighting her tears: ‘I was so worried about her or her brother getting shot by someone that’s supposed to protect and serve them. It’s terrifying.’
‘Instead of having his family sing happy birthday to him four-year-old TJ had police officer curse and insult him and his family,’ attorney Al Hofeld said.
When the cops barged in the house, they vandalized numerous objects during their aggressive search.
According to the lawsuit, at least 17 officers entered the house screaming, ‘Get your (expletive) hands up!’ and ‘We are doing a (expletive) raid’.
The cops poured vodka over their clothes, threw hydrogen peroxide on little Terence’s birthday presents, broke a big-screen TV by throwing it down, flipped over mattresses, opened wall panels, and even took a door off its hinges, the lawsuit says.
When Jackson asked them to show the search warrant, they angrily handcuffed her.
‘I wanted to know why were they there. Who are you? Show us a search warrant,’ Jackson said. ‘I guess I asked for a search warrant one too many times, and [an officer] was like, “Arrest her.”’
‘I reached for my phone and then I was tackled…I was handcuffed,’ she told WGN.
No contraband items were found in the raid and no one was arrested or charged.
According to CBS, this is the fourth incident since August 2018 in which the Chicago Police Department has raided the wrong residences.
Chicago police haven’t yet commented on Tuesday’s lawsuit filing.
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