Man files lawsuit after police beat him, break son's toy - Chicago News and Weather | FOX 32 News

Man files lawsuit after police beat him, break son's toy

A man is suing the city and two Chicago Police officers claiming he was beaten and pepper-sprayed when he complained that officers had broken a toy belonging to his son.

Montes Jones claims police were responding to a call near a party he was having when they attacked and arrested him for complaining about the toy, according to a lawsuit filed Monday in U.S. District Court.

Jones was having an outdoor birthday party in August 2010 at Wentworth Gardens, a public housing development, when police drove by at a high speed and crushed one of his son's toys as the boy played in the street, according to the suit.

Jones called out to officers to complain, and they told him to "f*** the toy," according to the suit. When Jones asked how they would feel if he came to their neighborhood and ran over a toy belonging to one of their children, the officers got out of the car and grabbed him, the suit claims.

They threw him to the ground and hit him in the leg with a baton, according to the suit, then punched him in the head. Jones ran to his mother's apartment to escape the beating and called an ambulance, but the officers followed and pepper-sprayed the apartment to get him to come out.

The officers then arrested Jones and took him to Mercy Hospital, where he was treated before being taken to the station and charged with aggravated assault, resisting arrest and aggravated battery to a police officer, the suit claims. The criminal case is still pending.

The four-count suit alleges excessive force and unreasonable seizure, and seeks unspecified punitive and compensatory damages.

A spokesman from the city's Legal Department said he had not yet seen the suit and could not comment.