Former Lynwood cop charged with punching handcuffed suspect

A former Lynwood police officer has been charged with aggravated battery and official misconduct for allegedly punching a handcuffed suspect in the face, rendering him unconscious in the garage of the south suburb’s police station.

Sgt. Brandin Fredericksen, of Lowell, Indiana, has since been fired for the Sept. 20, 2013, incident that left Randolph Holmes with a broken nose and concussion, Cook County prosecutors said.

Fredericksen, 33, and a handful of his supporters were waiting for his case to be called at the Leighton Criminal Courthouse on Tuesday. But his hearing was moved to the suburbs late in the afternoon after Cook County Judge Laura Sullivan noted that the alleged attack didn’t happen in the jurisdiction.

Fredericksen was eventually given $10,000 bail when he appeared at the Markham courthouse before Judge Frank Zelezinski.

Holmes was taken to a booking room where prosecutors said he was handcuffed to a bench after his reported arrest for domestic battery and an outstanding warrant. The arresting officer told Holmes he would be taken to the Sauk Village police station to be processed because Lynwood’s fingerprint system was down, prosecutors said.

Fredericksen, who was helping his colleague with the transport, allegedly became irate because Holmes wasn’t taking orders and started talking on his cellphone. The other officer, meanwhile, uncuffed Holmes from the bench and cuffed his hands behind his back. Soon, Holmes and Fredericksen started arguing and insulting one another, prosecutors said.

As they started walking, Fredericksen allegedly shoved Holmes’ body so hard into the open door of the lockup, it caused the door to close.

Then, while holding onto Holmes, Fredericksen led him out of the police station’s garage before striking him in the nose with an “uppercut” punch, prosecutors said. The force of the blow was so strong, Holmes fell to the ground, prosecutors said.

Holmes was down for roughly a minute and a half when the arresting officer turned up. That officer wasn’t there to witness the punch, but a surveillance camera in the garage caught Fredericksen in the act, prosecutors said.

Fredericksen tried to pick up Holmes, but Holmes could not stand, prosecutors said. Fredericksen ended up carrying Holmes to the back of his colleague’s patrol car before he was taken to Sauk Village, prosecutors said.

There, Holmes complained that Fredericksen had “knocked (him) out” and repeatedly asked for medical attention. An officer wiped blood from Holmes’ nose and he was given medical care once he was returned to Lynwood officials, prosecutors said.

Holmes was charged with resisting arrest and aggravated battery of a police officer for allegedly spitting on the officer. Holmes, now 26, ended up pleading guilty to resisting arrest, according to court records.

He has a pending attempted murder case from earlier this year in Markham, court records show.

Holmes filed a federal lawsuit against Fredericksen in 2014.

Fredericksen is represented by Daniel Herbert, who was in court earlier Tuesday for the arraignment of Jason Van Dyke, a Chicago Police officer charged with the murder of Laquan McDonald.

Herbert said he was “surprised” that Fredericksen has been charged given that the state’s attorney’s office had the video for a year and charged Holmes for spitting on Fredericksen, who was defending himself from a “very bad man.”

The state’s attorney can’t have it both ways, Herbert said.

“This is truly a case of the state’s attorney making charging decisions based upon politics,” Herbert said.

Herbert also alluded to Holmes’ pending attempted murder case and said Holmes may be tied to eight other murders and was arrested on a parole violation for beating a pregnant woman with a gutter.