A jaywalking Chicago cop became upset at a group of motorcyclists speeding through city streets, so he tossed a hot cup of coffee at one of the bikers.
Apparently, the cop was unaware the biker was recording him, capturing the incident on video.
“I got you on camera, bro,” said the man who goes by Elijah Bling on Facebook. “Yeah, I got you.”
The man then speeds away with the other bikers as the video cuts out.
The video was posted to Facebook on Sunday and shows a group of bikers speeding through the area of what appears to be near E. Hubbard Street and N. State Street.
The coffee cup appears to be an extra large sized coffee cup from a nearby 7-11 or maybe a Starbucks, both who are known to give free coffee to cops.
In fact, it’s an open secret that many restaurants and franchises provide free food and coffee to cops to thank them for keeping them safe. The equivalent of protection money.
So it’s likely this cop walked back to the 7-11 or the Starbucks to get a new hot cup of coffee. And it would be surprising if he even picked up after himself after littering the street with the coffee cup. There is also the chance the cup came from another coffee shop.
Either way, the cop had no right to throw it at the biker, even if the biker was committing a traffic infraction.
This is what Elijah Bing had to say in a Facebook message to update this story, who acknowledged that was not his real name, but wanted to remain anonymous:
We were riding in downtown Chicago with my group Chicago United Riders. Pulling up on the street, I saw the officer walking up to us, so I waved at him and said “Okay we will keep it down” and that’s when he threw his extra large full cup of hot coffee on my face.
My lid was up so it splashed inside my helmet and my eyes. He knew he was wrong but didn’t give a damn. I seen it in his eyes, he had the “I got you” look.
But that’s fine. If I were a new rider, I would’ve crashed and probably got run over by everyone. I wasn’t doing anything wrong, the cop basically targeted a bystander. If I were to do this to a motorcycle cop, I would’ve been charged with attempted murder.
The video is reminiscent of a Fort Worth cop in Texas pepper spraying a group of passing motorcyclists in another incident caught on video last year.
Officer W. Figueroa said he needed to pepper spray the bikers to clear the lane, according to NBC Dallas-Fort Worth:
He pulled over a truck that he said was moving slowly and had two men standing in the back. He wrote in his official report that “multiple motorcycles would not vacate the lane closest to my marked patrol car.”
“I deployed my pepper spray into the lane closest to me, at which point approaching motorcycles began to vacate the lane, allowing me to conduct a traffic stop,” Figueroa’s report said.
Figueroa was placed on paid leave while internal affairs investigated, which concluded with the cop receiving “internal sanctions,” whatever that means.
UPDATE II: Here is another video from the same incident from a different angle.
UPDATE III: The Chicago Tribune reports that the Chicago Police Department has been made aware of the incident and is now “investigating.”
“We expect every officer to be professional (and) treat people fairly and responsibly,” said Chicago Police Superintendent Eddie Johnson. “So to that end we’ll have an investigation, an investigation has been opened up, and when it comes down to it, that officer will be held accountable and will be disciplined appropriately.”
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