April 13th, 2012
PressTV- A newly released tape recording has further implicated North Chicago city police in a cover-up in connection with the killing of an African-American back in November, Press TV reports.
In the audio, the 45-year-old Darrin Hanna is heard begging for his life during a brutal beat-down by the police.
“Put me down! Put me down! Please! I’m about to die! I was down. I was down…They killing me,” he said.
Hanna died just days after the altercation.
An autopsy of the victim’s body found six wound in his face and 11 taser marks on his back.
The officers involve in the beat-down, however, mention no more than the fall on the floor, two punches and only two or three “attempts” to taser.
The Lake County coroner prosecutor also refused to charge the officers in question, citing an Illinois State Police report that concluded officers acted reasonably and appropriately.
The victim’s family played the audio before the Chicago city council on Monday and called for the dismissal of the policemen.
“What are you going to do with the six officers that beat my son?” Darrin’s mother, Gloria Carr questioned.
“We have a police report that describes a totally different scenario than what they said,” the Hanna family’s attorney Kevin O’Connor said. “They said this man was coming at them, that he’s the aggressor.”
The incident does not seem to be isolated just to this instance with the city now investigating 88 other similar cases.
A protest march is planned to the North Chicago Police Station and City Hall on April 21 against the police brutalities and their use of excessive force.
Meanwhile, the death of Hanna and those of several other African-Americans at police hands have raised questions the motives behind the killing, with many saying the shooting was racially motivated.