Calumet Park cop roughed up teen, filed false report: prosecutors
BY RUMMANA HUSSAIN Criminal Courts Reporter rhussain@suntimes.com May 18, 2011 12:52PM
Updated: August 28, 2011 12:21AM
A Calumet Park police officer has been charged with roughing up a teenager and writing a bogus police report, falsely claiming the boy’s injuries were caused when he fell while trying to resist arrest.
Lynell Porch tripped the handcuffed 16-year-old with his foot after the teenager mouthed off and laughed at him at a car wash at 127th and Laflin last summer, assistant Cook County state’s attorney Lynn McCarthy said Wednesday.
The boy crashed down hard on the concrete as Porch knocked him off balance, McCarthy said.
As a result, the teenager suffered a large abrasion on his face, cuts and bruising to his left shoulder and knee, and a broken tooth, for which he was required to get a root canal and replacement crown, McCarthy said.
The victim never resisted arrest and was taken to the police station where surveillance cameras captured Porch and his partner driving up, McCarthy said. The cameras also caught Porch grabbing the boy by his throat and pushing him on a bench, prosecutors said. Medical personnel were later called to the station to treat the boy.
On Wednesday, Judge Donald Panarese ordered Porch, 39, of Park Forest, held in lieu of $75,000 bail for aggravated battery, filing a false police report and official misconduct charges.
Porch and his partner were working in plainclothes when they drove to the car wash June 16, responding to a call of “suspicious males possibly selling narcotics,” McCarthy said.
Porch’s partner found no evidence of drugs when he did a patdown of the boy and four other teenagers who were standing around the south suburban business, McCarthy said.
Porch introduced himself as the new gang and narcotics officer and the boy made a wisecrack, McCarthy said.
The boy’s comments apparently angered Porch, who proceeded to place the teenager under arrest and batter him, McCarthy said.
Porch, who has been a patrol officer with the village of Calumet Park Police Department since 2007, wrote false reports that the boy obstructed justice and resisted arrest by pulling away from him, McCarthy said.
Porch also falsely claimed the boy suffered a cut on his cheek because he fell on the pavement after a struggle, McCarthy said.
Village Attorney Burt Odelson said the department suspended Porch for several days for the incident a few months ago. Porch is not related to the former Calumet Park Mayor Buster Porch, Odelson said.
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