Shocking Video- Skokie Cop Split Woman Face Open * Update

[IC10021]

Michael Hart, Skokie Police Officer, Charged With Battery In Alleged Brutality Caught On Video

Posted: 10/30/2013 3:40 pm EDT | Updated: 10/30/2013 3:48 pm EDT

A Skokie, Ill. police officer has been charged with felony aggravated battery and official misconduct after he was captured pushing a female arrestee into a jail cell, resulting in the woman sustaining multiple serious facial injuries.



According to Cook County State's Attorney Anita Alvarez, officer Michael Hart, 43, of Gurnee, Ill., "became irate" after helping with the fingerprinting and photographing of 47-year-old Cassandra Fuerstein and shoved the 110-pound Chicago woman into a concrete bench during her March 10 arrest on DUI charges, ABC Chicago reports.

Fuerstein had been disregarding Hart's commands, prosecutors say.

The attack shattered several bones in Fuerstein's face and the woman required reconstructive surgery including a titanium plate in her cheek, according to NBC Chicago. She also has had vision and dental problems since the shoving.

Video of the shoving was released earlier this month by Feuerstein's attorney, Torreya Hamilton, after Feuerstein filed a federal civil rights lawsuit against the officer. The video prompted an outcry and over 1,000 people signed a Change.org petition calling for Hart's arrest.

Hart was ordered held on $75,000 bond and faces up to five years in prison if convicted. Hart's attorney, Jed Stone, told the Chicago Tribune his client "cannot believe after 19 years of serving Skokie that his career has come to an arrest. … I don't think pushing her into a cell is a crime."

As a result of the charges, Skokie officials have put Hart on administrative leave while they complete an internal investigation that could lead to disciplinary action, Patch reports.

Hart filed a complaint against Feuerstein after the incident for resisting a peace officer. Those charges were later dismissed after Cook County prosecutors reviewed the evidence. Feuerstein pleaded guilty to drunk driving.

[IC10021]

FROM: HEAVY

WATCH: Cop Throws Woman Into Concrete Bench,
Shattering Her Face

http://www.heavy.com/news/2013/10/ch...ra-feuerstein/

Published:11:06 am EST, October 10, 2013| Updated:6:22 pm EST, October 30, 2013|

A Chicago woman, Cassandra Feuerstein, 47, is suing the town of Skokie, Illinois, claiming she was a victim of police brutality, reports CBS Chicago. The above CCTV video shows Feuerstein just after being arrested for DUI in March 2013.

After asking an officer if she can call her husband, she is removed from the cell for a few seconds.
Then, at the 1:50 mark in the video, Feuerstein — who weighs 110 pounds — is shown being flung, face-first, into a concrete bench in the cell.






The lawsuit claims the incident caused shattered bones in Feuerstein's face and that she required reconstructive surgery.


According to the Chicago Tribune: A Cook County court document filed by police said Feuerstein "knowingly resisted — in that she pulled away from (the officer) and placed both her hands on the sides of the cell door all in an attempt to not be placed into the holding cell."



















But her lawyer, Torri Hamilton, tells MyFoxChicago: She was compliant, she was doing as she was told. What she was really concerned about and the thing she was most upset about that she wanted to call her children to let them know she was okay, because she wasn't home. ... I think when you look at this and you see the video which we are so fortunate to have, I think what you see is this is like the cowardly act of a bully.

The lawsuit names Officer Michael Hart as the man who caused Feuerstein's injuries.

The Chicago Tribune reports that "an officer involved has been placed on station duty, with no contact with the public, while both the village and the state’s attorney investigate." The 2010 annual Skokie Police Department report lists an Officer Michael Hart as a member of the Honor Guard — described as officers who "volunteer their time and devote many hours training to perfect their performance":





Read more at: http://www.heavy.com/news/2013/10/ch...ra-feuerstein/

[IC10021]

(WGN-TV)
Skokie Police Officer Michael Hart outside the Leighton Criminal Courts building after being released in lieu of $75,000 bail on Wednesday.

A Skokie police officer caught on video shoving a woman into a cell bench had become irate after she wouldn't look into the camera for her booking photo, according to prosecutors who have charged the officer with aggravated battery and official misconduct.

Officer Michael Hart pushed Cassandra Feuerstein so hard that it broke her eye socket, cut her cheek and loosened her teeth, prosecutors said. She needed reconstructive surgery to place a titanium plate in her cheek and still suffers vision problems and numbness in her face, her attorney said.

[/QUOTE]


Someone should go check in on this police officer's wife; see if she's ok at home.

[AceBoon]

YAAAAY!!!

I was thinking that it MAY have been possible for this officer to at least avoid being arrested if at the time of the incident he had acknowledged his mistake, apologized, and explained to the lady that it was an accident and not his intention to shove her so forcefully that she hit her face on the concrete bed/bench. Instead, he chose to be cocky, unapologetic, and carry on as if he had done nothing wrong.
The law recognizes the difference between intent and accident, that's why they have laws like murder and manslaughter. The end result may be the same but the reasons are different.

Thank You IC10021 for the update.

[AceBoon]

Originally Posted by IC10021

Someone should go check in on this police officer's wife; see if she's ok at home.

Pardon the double post but I didn't see this comment at first. You're right! She may be at home with two black eyes herself!!!

[JohnFrash]

Originally Posted by IC10021

Charges filed against Skokie officer in videotaped jail cell incident
October 31, 2013|By Rosemary Regina Sobol and Robert McCoppin | Tribune reporters


(WGN-TV)
Skokie Police Officer Michael Hart outside the Leighton Criminal Courts building after being released in lieu of $75,000 bail on Wednesday.


Officer Michael Hart pushed Cassandra Feuerstein so hard that it broke her eye socket, cut her cheek and loosened her teeth, prosecutors said. She needed reconstructive surgery to place a titanium plate in her cheek and still suffers vision problems and numbness in her face, her attorney said.

"Put that against the backdrop of a 19-year career police officer with an unblemished record, and explain to me why he's being prosecuted," Stone said. "This is a good officer. The law says police can use reasonable force to get someone to comply with a reasonable direction."

This! This is exactly what I wanted! A non-sensational description of her injuries. Her injuries are severe, but there is none of that slang-y language used to describe them. "Shattered" is just too nonspecific a word for me. Thanks IC. No sarcasm. Thank you. ...Although highlighting "shattered" in all the other passages feels passive-aggressively directed at me. I'll ignore that and choose to be grateful anyway.

That second quote makes me viscerally angry. Does the attorney think that being a good officer lets him get away with assaulting the occasional "criminal"? Like the two cancel out? Eff that guy a lot.

I wonder how intoxicated she was. I bet she was so confused.

[IC10021]

Originally Posted by JohnFrash

This! This is exactly what I wanted! A non-sensational description of her injuries. Her injuries were severe, but there is none of that slang-y language used to describe them. "Shattered" is just too nonspecific a word for me. Thanks IC. No sarcasm. Thank you. ...Although highlighting "shattered" in all the other passages feels passive-aggressively directed at me. I'll ignore that and choose to be grateful anyway.

That second quote makes me viscerally angry. Does the attorney think that being a good officer lets him get away with assaulting the occasional "criminal"? Like the two cancel out? Eff that guy a lot.

I wonder how intoxicated she was. I bet she was so confused.

well, yes, I'm glad to get your attn & satisty your lingering doubt on the severity of this assault which was a man v woman, empowered v captive-dependent, and presumably sober v impaired explosion of violence that permanently changed this woman's life. He could have killed her with a brain bleed.

For God's sake, she has little kids waiting for her at home. Maybe she has a drinking problem but that is a medical issue.

The fact that she was intoxicated is even more reason for the officer to be careful handling her cause her thinking isn't good and her reactions are slow. Additionally, in her stocking feet she was in free fall. No way could she have regained her balance or better protected herself.

Someone should go ck on Mrs. Hart and see if she's ok and if the kids are ok too. If his behavior wasn't affecting their lives negatively before, sadly for them, I bet it is now.

[IC10021]

Correction: she has teenage kids as home.

[IC10021]

here's another one:

http://www.documentingreality.com/fo...arrest-133147/

[AceBoon]

Originally Posted by IC10021

here's another one:

http://www.documentingreality.com/fo...arrest-133147/

I've seen this one before. This one is kind of hard to see what's going on but they jacked her ass up when they slammed her down on her face. And video or not, her injuries speak for themselves.