A leading official within Chicago’s law enforcement infrastructure is calling for one officer accused of violating the city’s police code of conduct to be fired. Video allegedly shows the white cop, during 2020’s summer of unrest, verbally assaulting and dragging a Black woman by her hair before arresting her for looting and proving his use of excessive force.
In June, Chicago Police Superintendent David Brown filed disciplinary charges with the Chicago Police Board against Officer David Laskus for his participation in an excessive force case against a civilian. Laskus is accused of dragging Mia Wright by her hair out of a car and kneeling on her neck on Sunday, May 31, 2020, around 3 p.m. near the Brickyard Mall, 2600 N. Narragansett Ave.
Records show Laskus is accused of violating various rules set by the Chicago Police Department regarding engaging citizens. Some of these rules are disobedience of an order, engaging in any unjustified verbal or physical altercation with any person, excessive force, making a false report of maltreatment of any person, and unnecessary use or display of a weapon.
Laskus was investigated by an internal committee, and during the investigation, he and another officer were relieved of their duties as the Civilian Office of Police Accountability (COPA) assessed their actions. Based on the COPA’s findings, Brown has suggested the board fire Laskus.
According to court records, Laskus engaged in an “unjustified verbal or physical altercation,” and used “unreasonable force” when he sought to detain Wright and dragged her by her hair on the ground and pressed his knee into her neck, in a similar fashion as former Minneapolis police Officer Derek Chauvin did to George Floyd — the man whose case was at the center of the unrest Laskus was patrolling.
Wright and several members of her family say they wanted to go shopping at a local mall’s Target store to buy items for a birthday party but had not realized it was closed due to the social upheaval caused by Floyd’s death. They were impeded while trying to exit the mall parking lot by the officers.
City lawyer Caroline Fronczak said Laskus, and other officers believed the group was trying to break into the mall to loot but noted the group did not fit the description of the looters they were looking for.
Reports state Laskus also destroyed Wright’s property, taking his baton and smashing her car’s window while she and her group were in the car. He then ordered them out of the car.
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