Story highlights
Darrin Hanna, 45, died last month in the custody of North Chicago police
A coroner says his body shows Taser and baton marks
Six police officers have been reassigned to desk jobs while state police investigate
Six police officers in North Chicago, Illinois, have been reassigned to desk jobs while Illinois State Police and local authorities investigate why a 45-year-old man died in police custody last month, officials said Thursday.
Darrin Hanna, who has a cousin who is a member of the North Chicago City Council and another cousin who is a state legislator, died after he was arrested in connection with a domestic dispute incident, CNN affiliate WLS reported.
Hanna’s body showed signs of being shocked with a Taser and struck with a baton, authorities told CNN.
“At the time of the autopsy, we found multiple trauma points,” Artis Yancey, coroner of Lake County, Illinois, told CNN. “Some of the trauma points were identified as Taser shocks on the deceased’s body. We believe the other trauma was from baton strikes.”
Hanna’s family is suing the city in federal court for wrongful death, and the suit alleges that the officers were summoned to Hanna’s apartment because of a domestic dispute, according to CNN affiliate WBBM. The lawsuit says Hanna’s girlfriend was escorted from the building by police, and police beat and shocked Hanna for 20 minutes even though he didn’t resist arrest, WBBM reported.
The suit says that Hanna was removed from the apartment on a stretcher with a sheet over his head, WBBM reported.
City officials said they are investigating the case. WBBM and WLS said Hanna has a cousin on the city council and another in the Illinois General Assembly, but those individuals didn’t return messages from CNN Thursday.
“The city of North Chicago regrets Mr. Hanna’s death and we are investigating the amount of force used in his arrest,” said Chuck Smith, the city attorney. “The North Chicago police department is looking into claims of improper use of force by officers. And we have disciplined officers for improper use in the past.”
Smith says six officers involved in Hanna’s arrest have been reassigned to desk jobs pending the results of the investigation.
“They have not been suspended,” Smith said. “They will not collect a paycheck while sitting at home. They will perform administrative duties.”
The death of Hanna, 45, has caused uproar in North Chicago, where many residents complain of excessive force by police.
His death is the second instance of alleged police brutality to surface in the past month in North Chicago. A videotape of another alleged incident of police misconduct – in which a man was allegedly injured by an officer in a police station – was played before the city council earlier this week, Smith said.
The video appears to show an officer striking a man at a police booking station, grabbing him by the throat and pushing his face into a wall.
Smith confirmed the video incident took place at a North Chicago police station. A separate investigation has been launched into the videotaped incident, Smith said.
The Lake County coroner is awaiting results of pathology tests in the Hanna case.
“Because this case is so complicated, we had to ask for outside help,” coroner Yancey said, referring to the tests. “We had to bring in a (private) neuro-forensic pathologist and a forensic pathologist who specializes in cardio or heart events.”