A family in suburban Chicago has filed a lawsuit against local police alleging that a SWAT team member shot and maimed their 12-year-old son, who was in his bed during their early morning raid.
According to NBC News, the incident took place in May of this year at the Markham, Illinois home of Crystal Worship, as her three young sons laid in bed.
The suit claims that nearly two dozen officers barged into the house with Automatic rifles, throwing flash-bang grenades and shouting “police police police.” Apparently, the officers were executing a warrant against Worship’s boyfriend, Mitchell Thurman, who was also at the house at the time.
Thurman was ultimately arrested and charged with drug possession and possessing a gun with an expired Illinois state firearms owners identification card, but the criminal case against him was dismissed weeks later.
According to the lawsuit, Worship’s 12-year-old son Amir was shot in his kneecap in the melee. Even after surgery, the suit said that there are pieces of the boy’s knee that are still missing, and shortly after the procedure Amir was back in the hospital with an infection in the wound. In fact, according to the complaint, the gunshot injury will likely require additional surgeries and intensive physical therapy, as it is also likely that his injury will change the course of his life forever.
The Worship Family is suing the two local law agencies from which the Swat Team was comprised- Country Club and the village of Richton Park as well as the officers themselves.
The suit is seeking $50,000 in damages, for negligence, emotional distress, willful and wanton conduct, assault, battery, and false arrest and imprisonment.
