Only Thing Worse Than Cops Is A Gang Of Drunk Cops

Cops go full cops on black man on his wedding day.

It’s so hard for black people to survive an encounter with American police that run-of-the-mill assault and harassment by the police is barely news. “Dog Bites Man” is more of a story than “Cop Harasses Black Man.” To make it pop, you need a special circumstance, and particularly outrageous behavior.

Last week, Joseph Baskins filed a complaint against three Chicago police officers, and the city of Chicago. Baskins claims the officers assaulted and harassed him on his wedding day, calling him, his friends, and his fiancée the “black n***er squad,” while on a crowded elevator at city hall. And one of the black men had a baby on the elevator.

Is that enough black pain to make you care?

The alleged events took place on October 30th, 2014. Baskins went to Chicago City Hall to get married. When he and his fiancée found that the clerk was out, they got on an elevator back to the parking garage. The defendant cops were on the elevator… apparently they were at City Hall to deal with a civil rights investigation. But the officers, who were on duty, allegedly had a few already. Baskins alleges that a nearby bar-tab shows that the officers had eight beers and six vodkas.

Once on the elevator, Baskins claims that the gang of drunken cops harassed him and his wedding party. When the elevator reached the parking garage, all hell broke loose. Courthouse News reports:

Baskins claims Officer Patrick Gilmore then punched him in the mouth with provocation, and pulled a gun on him in the ensuing fight.

“Baskins next heard his friend scream words to the effect of, ‘it’s a gun! It’s a gun!’ Baskins’ friend then kicked the gun away from Defendant Gilmore,” Thursday’s 16-page complaint alleges. “Baskins looked down and saw the gun. Fearing for the lives of his family and friends if his assailants recovered the gun, he picked it up along with the baby and ran.”

I know what some (white) people are thinking. For some of you, drunkenly shouting n***er at a group of black people is just a thing the police need to be allowed to do in order to protect us from Suge Knight, or something. Pulling a gun on black people after drinking-on-duty is just what an officer needs to do in order to come home safe.

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There’s nothing I can say that will get through to those people, but it’s worth noting that Baskins turned himself in, was held for two weeks, and then the charges were dropped. That’s right, folks. CPD DROPPED charges stemming from this incident.

Can you imagine how completely f**ked up CPD had to be for a black guy admit that he disarmed a police officer, took his gun and ran, and yet have prosecutors say “Umm… yeah… sorry about all this, you’re free to go.” If you still support the cops on these facts, you simply do not believe IN THE CONCEPT of black people with rights.

Two of the officers are still on administrative leave, the third one — the officer who allegedly pulled the gun — is on disability and claims to have “no memory” of the incident.

If the allegations in the complain are true, Baskins needs to be made WEALTHY by the city of Chicago… and Officer Blackout Drunk needs to be in jail.

Chicago Cops Accused of Ruining Black Man’s Wedding Day [Courthouse News]
Baskins v. City of Chicago [Courthouse News Service]

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Elie Mystal is the Executive Editor of Above the Law and the Legal Editor for More Perfect. He can be reached @ElieNYC on Twitter, or at elie@abovethelaw.com. He will resist.