Demonstrators Demand Action Over Alleged Brutality At Tanning Salon
CHICAGO (CBS) -- Asian-American activists and others on Thursday demanded faster and more decisive action in a recent case of alleged police brutality and racism.
WBBM Newsradio Political Editor Craig Dellimore reports a crowd of demonstrators gathered outside Mayor Rahm Emanuel's office at City Hall, expressing their outrage about the case of tanning parlor manager Jianqing "Jessica" Klyzek.
Immigration attorney Nebula Li noted officers raiding Copper Tan and Spa last summer were caught on tape as one struck Klyzek while she was handcuffed and kneeling, and another officer verbally abused her; threatening to put her in a box and send her back to where she came from.
Klyzek is from China, but has been a naturalized citizen since 2011, and Li said Klyzek's wasn't an isolated case.
"Jessica's case is only one of many examples of the criminalization of immigrants, women, people of color, and Asian Americans," Li said. "Some may find it shocking to hear those words coming out of a Chicago police officer's mouth, but many of us in the Asian-American community have been told all our lives that we don't belong, and to go back to wherever we came from."
Police Supt. Garry McCarthy has said such conduct won't be tolerated on the force. One of the officers involved in the raid has been stripped of his police powers.
Kristina Tendilla, with Asian Americans Against Police Brutality, said not enough has been done since the incident last summer.
"What we heard is this person who struck this woman, who said these horrible things to her, is still working," she said.
The Independent Police Review authority has opened an investigation into the raid.
The demonstrators called on the mayor to make sure the officers involved in the case face the consequences.
Klyzek has filed a lawsuit accusing the officers of brutality and a hate crime.