CPD releases video of female cop being beaten by man on drugs
FOX 32 NEWS - Chicago Police have released graphic and disturbing dashcam and body camera video of a violent arrest that left a female officer severely injured.
The incident happened after officer Veronica Murillo and her partner responded to a 9-1-1 call about a car that had crashed into a liquor store at Cicero and Roosevelt on October 5th.
As the officers pulled up, a witness identified 28-year-old Parta Huff as the driver. He was walking away from the scene and refused to stop for the officers. Murillo got a handcuff on Huff's left arm, but when she tried to get it behind his back he resisted and a struggle ensued.
"Taser, taser, get down on the ground, taser, taser get down on the ground, taser taser, drop him, drop down, Stop fighting, stop fighting, stop fighting," Murillo can be heard yelling on the dashcam video.
The officers did not know it at the time, but Huff was high on PCP. Murillo's partner deployed his taser, but Huff seemed unfazed and remained uncooperative.
"Get down on the ground, dude, down on the f*cking ground," Murillo's partner could be heard yelling.
As the officers struggled to get Huff cuffed, he got ahold of Murillo's hair and she could be heard screaming in pain. Huff then falls backwards and pulls Murillo down with him, smashing her head into the pavement.
Moments later, a tactical officer responding to the radio call for help rushes up and grabs Huff's leg and tries to pull him off. But Huff refuses to let go of Murillo.
"Let go of her, taser deployment, let her go, let her go, let her go, let her go," officers could be heard screaming on the body camera.
Officers deployed tasers multiple times, but Huff retained his vice grip on Murillo's hair.
"He's ripping my hair," Murillo is heard yelling.
"Code one, code one, code one, he's got an officer's head, he's not letting go of her, taser's not working," another officer yells into his radio.
A day after the incident Superintendent Eddie Johnson said Murillo would have been justified in shooting Huff in this situation. But he said she told him she did not use her gun because she was afraid of the repercussions for her family and the department that could have come from an officer-involved shooting of a black man.
"She thought she was going to die. She knew that she should shoot this guy, but she chose not to, because she didn't want her family or the department to have to go through the scrutiny the next day on national news," Supt. Johnson said.
After Huff was finally subdued, the tactical officer's body camera caught a telling exchange with firefighters that shows how attitudes about deadly force have been impacted by cameras.
"Were you with her?" a firefighter asked.
"Yea I got tased a bunch of times," said the tactical officer wearing the body camera. "I was the first one here wrestling with him."
"Couple months ago you could have shot him," the firefighter said, half chuckling about it before telling the officer they would fix him up.
Officer Murillo was hospitalized with head and neck injuries and as of Thursday night, was still in the hospital.
Huff was charged with attempted murder and aggravated assault and was ordered held without bail.
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