Chicago police board president, who is a black man, says cops hit him during protest
Chicago Police Board President Ghian Foreman says he was hit by officers during a protest against police brutality over the weekend.
Foreman, who leads the independent civilian committee that decides on disciplinary cases, says he was one of several people hit by Chicago cops Sunday. The police board president said in a statement he was not participating in the protest, “but coincidentally encountered the demonstration at a moment when it became confrontational.”
“This is the duality I live with as a Black man in America, even one who is privileged to be part of systems of power,” Foreman said. “I am not exempt from what any other Black man faces on the streets.”
During a news conference Friday, Chicago Mayor Lori Lightfoot said she urged Foreman to file a complaint, which he later did.
“What happened is unacceptable,” Lightfoot said.
Foreman told WTTW that officers hit him five times with batons at the protest on Hyde Park. He filed a complaint with the Citizens Office of Police Accountability, a spokesperson for the agency told the news outlet.
“As with every investigation, it will be thorough, it will be integrity-based, it will be unbiased,” the spokesperson told the Chicago Sun-Times.
In a statement, the Chicago Police Department that Superintendent David Brown talked to Foreman, WTTW reported.
“If any officer is found to have participated in excessive force, they will be held accountable,” the statement said, according to WTTW.
Foreman described the situation as “commotion” in an interview with WFLD.
“I don’t necessarily blame that police officer. I don’t necessarily blame the community,” Foreman told the news outlet. “I was trying to keep the police cool, I was trying to keep the community cool. I didn’t see a point in throwing bottles at police. So I’m trying to calm the community down. You know I saw some of the young protesters getting in the middle and I didn’t want them to be hurt.”
Foreman declined to further discuss specifics of the incident in his statement, saying he wants to “focus on how it could have been avoided and how aggressive police confrontations can be avoided moving forward.”
“We cannot allow the momentum of the uprisings to be lost by focusing on micro-incidents, but rather use that energy to demand accountability that we can see and feel,” Foreman said. “I encourage my fellow Chicagoans to stay involved — vote, advocate for solutions, demonstrate peacefully, support local businesses, and donate resources.”
