Chicago police released the video Friday. The release consists of both a dashcam video and the bodycam video taken from one of the officers who was on the scene. The dramatic bodycam video shows the suspect pulling the female officer’s hair and smashing her head into the pavement.
On Oct. 5, a car drove into the front of a Chicago liquor store. The driver, allegedly high on PCP, just walked away. A person on the street flagged police down and pointed out the suspect, later identified as a gang member, Parta Huff, 28. The woman officer and her male partner yelled at Huff to stop but he kept walking. The officers got out of their car, went up to the 28-year-old and attempted to take him into custody.
The video shows Huff struggling and resisting arrest. The male officer attempted to handcuff Huff’s hands behind his back while his partner attempted to restrain him from the front. He was told by both officers he was about to be tased but the suspect continued to struggle.
During the altercation the three moved from the sidewalk to the middle of the street. Huff is taken down but took the woman officer down with him. The bodycam from an officer who arrived shortly after the pair were on the road shows Huff pulling the female officer’s hair and smashing her head into the pavement. Although the sound is somewhat muffled by sirens and the crackling of police radios, she was heard saying he was pulling her hair out. Clumps of her hair can be seen in Huff’s hand.
Huff was tased several times but the stun gun appeared to have no effect on him. Other officers can be heard on the video yelling, “Let her go, let her f*****g go.” Eventually more officers appear and managed to take Huff, bleeding from a few punches to the head, into custody.
The female officer, whose identity was not released, was taken to hospital. She suffered a concussion and injuries to her neck and wrist as well as bone chips. As of yesterday she remained hospitalized.
Chicago Police Superintendent Eddie Johnson said the officer feared for her life and would have been justified in shooting Huff. Even though she thought she was going to die, she made a conscious decision not to take her gun out because she did not want her family or the police department to be scrutinized in the media.
Huff has been charged with attempted murder and aggravated battery.
