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Incident of Rev. Catherine Brown in her May 13, 2013, confrontation with police in Chicago.
Chicago Police Department video
In 2013, a Chicago woman was simply pulling into her driveway one evening and ended up in a violent confrontation with police in front of her two small children.
By the end of the night, the woman had a gun drawn on her, was hit by a police car, was pepper sprayed, and was charged with attempted murder.
A CBS Chicago investigation blew open the heinous case—wherein the reporters have squad car video, the 911 calls and complaints against these officers—wide open.
The news outlet reports that three years ago, Rev. Catherine Brown was driving down her alley heading to her driveway. She says she saw a squad car speeding towards her without lights or sirens and blew her horn because she thought the police might hit her.
She says Officer Michelle Morsi Murphy and Officer Jose Lopez were blocking her driveway, and Murphy jumped out of the squad car cursing and ordered her to move her civilian vehicle … from in front of her own home.
“It startled me,” Brown says to CBS. “I reached for my license … The other officer takes the gun and points it at the front of my head.”
The outlet reports that Brown called 911 repeatedly. Those tapes reveal she felt threatened and in danger. She repeatedly asks for a lieutenant and police to come and help. Her daughters’ screams can be heard on the calls.
Brown says the officers forced her door open. Terrified, she drove backwards out of the alley.
“Now she’s chasing me with the car. I come to a complete stop, and then she takes the car and rams it into me,” Brown says of the officer who hit her car with her children in it.
Officer Morsi Murphy then pepper sprays her and it hits her baby, too. Officer Lopez reportedly laughs. Then Morsi Murphy gets on top of a parked car and draws her gun and points it at Brown. Another officer strikes the car with a metal wand. Brown is taken down and dragged from the car.
She then describes even more abuse, saying they “Beat me down to my underwear, pulled my skirt off me,” Brown says. “They beat me with the sticks and hit me with their boots in my head. I got treated like an animal.”
Brown was then incredibly charged with attempted murder because Morsi Murphy claimed Brown had dragged her. Brown was acquitted, but she was convicted of reckless conduct, a misdemeanor, for driving in reverse. She is appealing the conviction.
A Chicago Police spokesperson declined to discuss the case, citing pending litigation.
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