Chicago cop who threatened Black man in viral video is stripped of police powers
A Chicago cop has been stripped of his police powers four years after a viral video showed him threatening an innocent Black man who refused to stop filming him.
"I kill motherf*ckers," Officer James Hunt told Kenneth Lee in the 2018 video.
Hunt later told Lee that his Snapchat account name was ""I f*cked your mama.” He also falsely arrested Lee, resulting in a $100,000 settlement against the city.
However, it was another complaint against Hunt from 2020 that resulted in him being stripped of his police powers, according to Chicago's CBS affiliate.
"Hunt’s troubling track record includes 24 complaints made by civilians between July 2014 and March 2020, according to COPA records," the station reports. "He also self-reported using force against civilians 28 times between 2016 and 2020. During that period, he had the fifth most reports, along with three other officers, according to CPD data analyzed by CBS 2. CPD has more than 12,000 officers on its force."
Hunt's record includes fatally shooting a teenager 10 times in 2014. The latest complaint against Hunt stemmed from an incident that occurred in downtown Chicago the same week that a Minneapolis cop murdered George Floyd, sparking protests across the country.
A Black woman said she got caught up in a large crowd and was trying to get away from the area when she saw officers approaching her car. One of the officers broke out her back passenger side window, sending glass flying everywhere.
As she got out of her car, the same officer began wrestling with her for her phone, which she was using to film the incident. The woman said she told the officers she needed medical attention three times, but was ignored before "going completely numb."
She accused one of the officers of lifting her up by her head and calling her "fat" and a "b*tch."
"Sources confirmed to CBS 2 that Hunt is the officer she accuses of breaking her window, lifting her up by her head and calling her names," the station reports.
Watch video of the 2018 incident as well as the full report below.
Officer James Hunt with the Chicago PD harassed two black men for crossing the street. Hunt called one them a \u201cretard\u201d & added that 'I kill motherf*ckers, just because they crossed the street.\u201d \n\n- Call the Chicago PD at (312) 746-6000 & demand justice.pic.twitter.com/c4DJl2omIq— Simar (@Simar) 1531252259