Chicago trauma center protesters accuse cops of roughing them up
Protesters accused University of Chicago police of excessive force during a demonstration against the school's medical center on Sunday.
According to The Chicago Tribune, authorities arrested four protesters but also allegedly attacked others, including the woman whose family tragedy inspired the campaign against the University of Chicago's youth trauma center.
Sheila Rush said campus police shoved her to the ground during the protest, an attempt to stage a sit-in at a $700 million addition to the facility, which only serves patients 16 years of age or younger. She said the age restriction leaves the city's south side without a similar treatment option for adults.
"Most of the violence that comes in the south side, [victims] can't be treated, they can't be helped," Rush said. "They're taken many, many miles away."
Three years ago, Rush's son, Damian Turner, was hit by a stray gunshot three and a half blocks from the trauma center. But because he was over the age limit, he had to be taken 10 miles away before getting treatment. Turner ultimately died.
Protest footage aired by WGN-TV on Monday showed campus officers taking protesters down to the ground and waving their nightsticks toward them. One demonstrator who was filming the sit-in said an officer hit his camera before handcuffing him on the ground.
Watch footage of the sit-in and campus police response, aired Monday on WGN, below.