For the second time this year, a melee between Cabrini-Green residents and Chicago Housing Authority police officers has strained community relations and left some tenants questioning the viability of the police force.
Since its inception in 1990, CHA’s 400-member police force has struggled to gain the respect of residents and other law enforcement agencies. The unit has fought to counter residents’ mistrust and the powerful gangs that virtually control many of the CHA’s housing developments.
Some residents view the authority’s police as ineffective in curbing violence and gang activity while others complain about brutality and corruption.
These tensions erupted Wednesday evening when a group of outraged residents stormed a CHA station after officers had arrested Quintus Royal, 20, a Cabrini resident who police say is a gang leader. He also is the younger brother of a woman whose shooting by CHA police in March set off a near riot.
According to CHA Police Cmdr. Frank Tyse, several CHA police officers entered a Cabrini building at 1340 N. Larrabee St. at about 5:20 p.m. as part of an ongoing drug investigation. As they were leaving the building, Tyse said, the officers were approached by Royal, who first argued with the officers and then allegedly attacked them. One officer suffered bruises, cuts and a sprained ankle.
Royal was arrested and taken by the CHA police to the Chicago Police Department’s East Chicago District station at 113 W. Chicago Ave. About 20 minutes later, Tyse said, a group of at least 20 angry residents and possibly as many as 50 came to the CHA police station at 624 W. Division St., just around the corner from where Royal was arrested.
Tyse said Royal is related to numerous residents in the 1340 N. Larrabee building.
Shortly after the group arrived at the CHA station, a fight broke out, apparently as a diversion to draw police out of the station. When a watch commander and a sergeant came out to investigate, they were pummeled by the mob, according to Tyse. One of the officers was struck in the head by a broken bottle.
Several of the people involved in the melee are being sought, authorities said. Royal has been charged with aggravated battery of a police officer, disorderly conduct and obstructing a police officer. His bond was set at $35,000 on Thursday.
At his bond hearing, Royal’s attorney, Robert Nemzin, accused the CHA of having a vendetta against members of the Royal family.
In March, 26-year-old Fernanda Royal was critically wounded by a shot from a CHA officer’s gun. The officer contended his gun accidentally discharged during a struggle. Fernanda Royal is suing the CHA as a result of her injuries.
In a separate incident at about 2:30 a.m. Thursday, the windows of a CHA police car parked in Cabrini were smashed as officers attempted to arrest a person for trespassing a few blocks from the station, Tyse said.
Tyse said it is not unusual for groups of residents to come to the police station after friends or relatives are arrested. He termed Wednesday’s events “an isolated incident” and insisted that the CHA police have wide support in the community.
CHA Police Chief LeRoy O’Shield defended his department, saying that officers respect residents but are firm on those who violate the law.
“We don’t want to have an excellent relationship with law breakers,” O’Shield said. “We want to put them in jail.”
But other observers, including several Chicago police officers, offered a different view of community relations with CHA police.
“For whatever reason, the CHA police have not gained a high respect in the community,” said one Chicago police official who has worked in the Cabrini area for more than a decade.
“Some of the reasons for the problems between the residents and the CHA police force can be attributed to heavy handedness on the part of some officers toward residents,” the official said. “It is clear that the community does not regard the CHA as a viable police force.”
The Chicago Police Department’s public housing section maintains a station in the Cabrini development and patrols there as well.
Some residents interviewed Wednesday complained about unnecessary harassment by CHA police officers.
“The CHA police are trying to turn this place into Moscow. You got no free movement, you can’t say nothing or they will pull their clubs out and hit you in the head,” said a 60-year-old male resident of the building. “They make it hard on people who try to live in peace and obey the laws.”
Another resident, a woman who said she is a relative of the Royals’, said: “When the CHA police officers arrest somebody, it is not like they just frisk them and put the cuffs on them. When they arrest someone in this area, they normally beat them up. That is the reason there is so much rivalry between the CHA police and the gangbangers over here.”
