ABC7 Chicago is now streaming 24\/7. Click here to watch<\/a><\/p>\n“They rushed in. One had a shield that said, ‘SWAT.’ Another ran to Ebony and pointed his gun in her face,” Eason said on the stand on Tuesday, as she tearfully described officers pointing their weapons at her and the children as well.<\/p>\n
If the family’s attorneys had gotten their way, former Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel would have been among those called to the stand to testify. But the judge in this case, in a last-minute reversal, decided against it.<\/p>\n
Because this is a civil case, the burden is on the plaintiff. And without any body camera video to prove their allegations, the family involved in this case faces an uphill battle as this trial finally gets underway.<\/p>\n
The family’s attorneys accused the officers of violating the terms of what was not a “no-knock warrant” and using what he described on Tuesday as “excessive and unnecessary force when they knew in advance children were present.”<\/p>\n
There is no video evidence to back up the family’s claims. At the time, CPD SWAT officers were not required to wear body worn cameras.<\/p>\n
In court, attorneys disputed nearly every aspect of the allegations, saying SWAT team members, who were conducting a simultaneous raid next door in search of their suspect, did knock and announce themselves before breaking in.<\/p>\n
“They did not point their guns at the children, not for one second,” the city’s attorney said in court on Tuesday.<\/p>\n
Both the original complaint and the family’s attorneys said it is all part of a pattern and practice of CPD to engage in this type of action and then cover it up. It is why they sought to call Emanuel, who, in the aftermath of the Laquan McDonald shooting, gave this 2015 speech to the Chicago City Council.<\/p>\n
“We also need to see what we can do in our communities to restore trust where it has been lost. I know some of you are afraid to work with police. You do not trust them,” Emanuel said.<\/p>\n
SWAT arrested their suspect at the house next door on that same day. One thing both sides agreed upon is that the family had no relationship with him whatsoever.<\/p>\n
The trial is expected to last up to three weeks, with several, if not all of the SWAT team officers involved that day taking the stand. None of them have ever been found guilty of any misconduct from the events of that day.<\/p>\n
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