Chicago police Officer Anthony Banks accuses city, fellow officers of sending racist image in lawsuit against city, attorney says
A Chicago police officer is suing the city and several of his fellow officers, accusing them of racism and intimidation.
On March 17, Chicago police Officer Anthony Banks was allegedly cornered by a group of fellow officers inside the Chicago Police Department's 11th District on the city's West Side.
The alleged incident sent Banks on medical leave due to emotional distress, trauma and fear for his own safety.
"They encircled him in such a fashion that he did not feel free to leave," Attorney Blake Horwitz said. "They all surrounded my client and start making racial comments, using [ a racial slur ] and also telling him to go back from where he came from, which has a double meaning."
Banks' attorney said the alleged incident happened after a disagreement during an investigation.
The police officers were carrying out their duties inside someone's home, when Banks allegedly stepped in to deescalate a heated exchange between a visibly pregnant woman and another officer.
"He intervened, and said, 'why don't you distance yourself and give her some room?'" Horwitz said.
According to the lawsuit, two Chicago police sergeants who witnessed the confrontation intervened.
Banks was sent home and asked to fill out a report documenting the incident.
The next day, Banks "received a graphic and threatening email containing a racist image on his department-issued phone," his attorney said.
"The image is the most racially perverse photograph of how an African American can kill himself," Horwitz said. "It is a 1950s Mississippi-type of representation."
The attorney said Banks went on medical leave shortly after the incident.
The officer returned to duty on July 1. He was transferred to CPD's 6th District.
He chose to file a lawsuit to shed light on the issue of racism within the department.
Neither CPD nor the city's law department would comment on the lawsuit or its allegations Wednesday.
