City Counci committee OKs $175,000 settlement for teen tasered by Chicago police

A 14-year-old boy who suffered brain damage after being tasered by Chicago Police would receive $175,000, under a settlement advanced Monday by a City Council committee.

The February 2005 incident occurred at the Uhlich Children’s Advantage Network Home, 3737 N. Mozart, after a staffer at the home snatched a baseball cap off the teenager’s head.

The enraged youth reportedly turned violent and used his fist to smash six windows before fleeing the group home where he lived.

According to the city, staffers called 911, but the teen refused to let responding police officers and paramedics get close enough to treat his bleeding hand. When the verbal abuse continued, a police sergeant tasered the boy for 17 seconds.

The taser is designed to allow a current flow of only five seconds when the trigger is pulled and immediately released. Sgt. Samuel Lopez kept his finger on the trigger, causing a “constant stream of current” for 17 seconds, according to a new release distributed by the city Law Department.

Lopez maintained he used the taser only after the teen “came off the couch and lunged at him in a threatening manner,” the city said.

According to paramedics at the scene, the taser left the boy unconscious, suffering ventricular fibrillation and cardiac arrest.

The boy’s guardian subsequently filed a lawsuit disputing the sergeant’s account. The guardian claimed that the teen was tasered for too long while “non-violent” and seated.