Lawsuit: Chicago officer threatened 1-year-old would feel Taser

A man claims in a federal lawsuit a Chicago police officer threatened to use a Taser on him last year while he held his 1-year-old son in his arms — and warned him his son would feel the electricity.

They also said police officers slammed the man onto the hood of a vehicle, smashing the baby underneath him. They said the entire incident was caught on video by a security camera, but none of the officers involved had their dash cameras activated to capture it. The claims appear in a lawsuit Cesar Carrizales filed Tuesday along with Theresa Cmiel, the mother of his son, against the city and several police officers.

A spokesman for the city’s law department had no comment on the lawsuit, saying they hadn’t seen it yet.

The couple said Carrizales was approached by officers in an alleyway Oct. 10 as he approached his garage, and they demanded he put his son down. The boy was barefoot — and the alleyway was filthy — and Carrizales told officers Cmiel would take the child, according to their complaint.

That’s when the couple claims officers “began to violently assault” Carrizales with his son in his arms. They also tried to pry the boy away, and the boy “screamed in a way that Mr. Carrizales and his mother had never heard before,” they said.

The officers allegedly slammed Carrizales into the hood of a vehicle, “pinning and smashing” the boy beneath him. When an officer held an object to Carrizales’ head and threatened the use of a Taser, Carrizales screamed for Cmiel, according to the lawsuit. That’s when she came outside and collected the child, it said.

The lawsuit indicates officers confronted Carrizales because a neighbor had called to complain Carrizales had damaged a fence on the property line and threatened the neighbor.

“Even if true, these allegations amounted to minor misdemeanor charges,” the lawsuit states.

Carrizales was initially charged with aggravated battery to a police officer, but that was eventually dismissed, and he pleaded guilty to misdemeanor resisting arrest, the lawsuit says.