Overview
- The confrontation occurred Sunday outside a Grand Crossing church and was recorded by bystanders before the video spread widely online.
- A female police officer deployed a Taser that police say was ineffective and a firefighter then retrieved a Halligan bar, a heavy forcible-entry tool, and struck the man, knocking him unconscious.
- Police identified the man as 32-year-old Lamar Brown and charged him with aggravated battery and aggravated assault of a firefighter while noting he had eight outstanding warrants.
- Prosecutors said toxicology showed PCP and cocaine in Brown’s system, he was sedated and taken to St. Bernard Hospital for treatment and psychiatric evaluation, and CT scans were negative.
- The Chicago Fire Department has opened an internal probe into the firefighter’s use of the Halligan bar and the case will proceed through criminal court, a development that could shape policy on when firefighters step in to help control volatile scenes.