‘Don’t Cry Now’: Police Chief Who Resigned After Beating Up Man in Precinct Breaks Down In Emotional Bid for Sympathy After Video Footage Goes Public

A Chicago-area police chief who assaulted a man for filming inside a police station has broken his silence after disturbing bodycam footage was recently released.

Former Robbins Police Chief Carl Scott is now publicly apologizing for losing control during a July 1, 2024, incident at the Village Hall in Robbins, Illinois.

The former chief of the historic Black neighborhood admitted to beating a man in a back room for several minutes after telling white officers nearby to turn off their body cameras. He claimed the man, only identified as James by CBS News Chicago, repeatedly refused to stop filming in the building’s lobby. When confronted by Scott, James allegedly insulted the former Police Chief’s family, sparking an uncontrollable rage.

“Everybody needs to know the ‘why’ – not the one-sided narrative,” Scott told the outlet. Calling his outburst a “human response,” he admitted his emotions got the best of him that day: “We humanize the badge. So when we humanize that, then we understand … you understand the frustration, you understand what it took, you understand what’s at stake. You understand what you’re protecting… a badge meant nothing at that point.”

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Those are not the words you’d expect to hear from a veteran officer with 23 years as a federal agent before joining the Robbins Police Department. The encounter “caused a strike against my integrity,” he told reporters through tears. It also cost him his career. Scott is no longer eligible to work in law enforcement in Illinois and resigned two days before Robbins Mayor Darren Bryant planned to terminate him.

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Earlier in 2025, he pleaded guilty to battery and was sentenced to two years’ probation.

Scott’s emotional mea culpa is spreading quickly across social media and news outlets, but not many commenters seem moved by his tears. A top comment on Instagram read, “We don’t feel sorry for him. Cops like him mess it up for the good ones out here.”

That said, many are questioning whether the other police officers present during the beating were fired or at least reprimanded.

“And all that in front of them yt folks smh. Don’t cry now,” wrote one person. Another cynic added, “and they was happy to watch him crash out too. He thought he was gettin brownie points.”

“The worst part is that other officers did not intervene,” wrote one person. “Had they intervened, they could have saved the officer from himself.”

“All the cops present should be fired,” read another top comment.

According to CBS News, the victim, James, is an activist who films interactions with law enforcement and government officials to “audit” or test First Amendment rights. He showed up that day to file a complaint against the station over a previous visit. James alleged that Scott smacked his phone out of his hand before the beating began. He said he never recovered his phone, which showed the lead-up to the attack.  

With tears streaming down his face, he recalled that terrifying day in the December 5 interview with CBS, “He told two officers to cut the camera off, and they just started beating me.”

When asked why he told the officers to turn off the cameras, Scott replied, “My mind wanted to hold a conversation with him.” He admitted that day he should have done one thing and one thing only: walk away.