Two officers in Chicago, Illinois have been relieved of police powers after a woman said a cop put a knee on her neck, according to The Chicago Tribune report on Friday. The Civilian Office of Police Accountability recommended the new development, and police Superintendent David Brown followed suit. The incident in question remains under investigation.
Mia Wright, 25, is at the center of incident. She said that she and relatives went to the Brickyard Mall last Sunday with friends and family, but didn’t know it has been shut down because of looting, Well, as seen on video, police surrounded her cousin’s car, smashed the windows using clubs, and dragged at least two of the women out.
One of them was Wright. She said that a police officer put a knee on her neck. The family said that the cops’ response was unjustified.
“They approached my car so forcefully, where they just start bamming and hitting at my car,” cousin Tnika Tate told CBS Chicago. “Then they bust out three windows, and then they actually tore off my door handle, the passenger side door handle. And then they literally drug my little cousin Mia out onto the ground.”
“I felt like an animal,” Wright said. “They pulled me by my head, dragged me out the vehicle, had my face down on the concrete, officer had his knee on my neck. I just felt like an animal.” She said she didn’t even feel like a human being at that moment.
She said all she could think of was the George Floyd incident, and thought it could have been a similar situation.
“I have anxiety now,” she said according to the Tribune. “I can’t sleep. I had to go to a doctor. I had to go the emergency room.”
Floyd was declared dead after Minneapolis police officer Derek Chauvin kneeled on his neck until after he became unresponsive, as seen on video. The cop lost his job over this, and faces charges including second-degree murder.
Wright faces a count of disorderly conduct in her case.
At a press conference, Tate said that police called Wright a “fucking savage,” and them “bitches.” Officers did not explain why they were taking them out of the vehicle, she said.
Wright’s attorney Nenya Uche called the incident a “vicious attack” by police.
“Animals don’t even get treated like that,” he said.
[Screengrab via CBS Chicago]
