A Chicago man told a federal jury Monday that two Chicago Police officers assaulted him with a screwdriver as they searched him for drugs in a West Side alley in August 2004.
Coprez Coffie, 23, testified that he had seen the tactical officers take the tool from the glove compartment of their unmarked car. He was handcuffed, placed against the car in an alley near Division Street and Pulaski Road and told to spread his buttocks, he said.
“It was a shock to me,” he said in the first day of a trial stemming from his lawsuit against the City of Chicago and the two officers, Gerald Lodwich and Scott Korhonen.
Lawyers for Coffie contend the search was unreasonable and violated his 4th Amendment rights. But city attorneys denied the incident took place, calling the arrest routine and noting that Coffie pleaded guilty to drug possession.
The jury is expected to hear evidence in the case at the Dirksen U.S. Courthouse throughout the week. Coffie is seeking unspecified damages.
In his opening statement, Jon Loevy, Coffie’s lawyer, told jurors that a medical exam performed after the incident showed Coffie had a laceration in the lining of his rectum. When the allegation was reported to police investigators, the squad car was searched, Loevy said.
“They found a screwdriver, exactly as Mr. Coffie had described,” he said.
A lawyer for the city, Patricia Kendall, told jurors that Coffie waited days before making his allegations and that his injury would have been much worse had he in fact been assaulted with a screwdriver.
“It didn’t happen,” Kendall told jurors.
