Body-camera footage shows an Illinois cop allegedly shooting an unarmed teenager accused of damaging a woman’s window — an incident that attorneys argue was unjustified, “excessive,” and “unnecessary,” according to a report.
Sauk Village police officers approached two 14-year-olds during the incident that unfolded in March 2022. The teens were not identified in CBS News’ investigation, and their faces were blurred out in the videos.
Chilling body camera and cellphone footage obtained by the outlet shows Officer Seth Brown questioning the boy and the girl about the accusation. A woman in the neighborhood blamed the boy for breaking her window a day prior, telling Sgt. Scott Langan that they knew her nephew and that she had a photo of him, according to the report.
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“That ain’t got nothing to do with me,” the girl responded to Brown.
During the exchange, the video shows that Brown instructs the children to keep their hands out of their pockets. The boy explains that they’re in the area to meet up with friends. But the officer asks them for their name and dates of birth.
“We didn’t do nothing wrong,” the boy said.
According to the video, the incident intensifies when the officers tell the boy to put his hands behind his back because they are taking him into custody.
“For what?” the boy asks.
“CDP,” Langan responded, referring to criminal damage to property. The outlet noted that the teen’s attorney said he didn’t know what the acronym meant during the arrest. On top of that, both officers were reportedly not on the same accord and were telling him different things.
“You’re going to be charged and let go,” Langan said. The other officer, Brown, said if he kept resisting, he would “tase” him, and ultimately did seconds later, causing the boy to start running, according to CBS News.
Next, Langan allegedly took out his handgun in front of him and shot the teen, striking him in the hip, the outlet reported. However, the injured boy kept running out of fear and hopped over a fence. The video shows that Langan attempted to use the Taser on him again.
While hiding from the officers at the scene, the boy contacted his guardian, who came to the area, per CBS News. The officers informed him that emergency first responders were on the way. The teen was transported to a local hospital for medical treatment.
“He was afraid they were coming after him,” one of the teen’s attorneys, Al Hofeld Jr., told the outlet. “He was afraid they were going to shoot him again.”
The eighth grader wasn’t arrested or charged. His attorneys, Hofeld Jr. and Gabe Hardy filed a lawsuit against the police department.
“They never arrest him. They never charge him. They never cite him. He never has to go to court. That was the end of, it was the end of the matter,” Hofeld Jr. added, per the outlet. “It’s like it never happened. And it looks and feels like contrition because they know… they shot him unjustifiably.”
During the investigation, as CBS News reported, Langan told officials he shot the teen accidentally because he thought he grabbed his Taser instead of his Glock — harrowingly similar to the cop who shot Daunte Wright in Brooklyn Center, Minnesota, in 2021. The teen’s attorney called his actions “reckless.”
Following the Wright incident, the Sauk Village Police Department created a policy that required officers to have their guns and Tasers on opposite sides of their holsters to avoid confusion, according to the report.
That day, Langan had his Taser in the front of his tactical vest, according to the report. He was cleared from charges last month. Police chief Malcolm White said disciplinary action has yet to be taken due to the department waiting on a decision from the Illinois State Police and Cook County’s State Attorney’s Office, per the outlet. Atlanta Black Star reached out to Sauk Village Police for comment on Friday.
Sauk Village is about 31 miles from Chicago.
