When an Aurora police sergeant hit his head and lost consciousness, a bystander used a Fox Valley Mall officer’s radio to call for help during a struggle with a teenage boy who was resisting arrest inside the mall, according to police.
At about 6:50 p.m. Saturday, the 16-year-old, an Aurora resident, caused “a disturbance” at the center of the mall, police said in a statement published to Facebook.
The boy apparently knocked over a stack of cups at a food vendor there, said Aurora police spokesman Dan Ferrelli.
A security officer told the boy to leave the property and had begun to lead him out when an Aurora police sergeant met them and started walking alongside, according to the statement.
As the three were about to reach an exit, the boy said he was going to go into a store, police said. He was repeatedly told to leave the mall, but instead continued toward the store, screaming and yelling profanities, police said.
When the officers tried to arrest him for trespassing, he immediately resisted and fought, police said. The boy’s actions caused the sergeant to trip and fall backward, strike his head on the corner of a wood store display and lose consciousness, police said.
A man who saw what happened asked the security officer, who was still trying to restrain the teen, how he could help, police said in the statement. The officer told the man to use his radio to call for help.
In the meantime, the sergeant regained consciousness, police said. The bystander helped the officers gain control of the teen and take him into custody, according to the statement.
The teen, charged with felony resisting arrest, misdemeanor battery, criminal trespass to land and disorderly conduct, yelled and swore on the way to a hospital for treatment of minor injuries and was released to his parents, police said.
The sergeant was also treated at an Aurora hospital, where he was given several staples to close a deep cut, police said. The security officer had a minor laceration to his face that didn’t require hospital treatment and the other man was not injured, police said.
If someone were to come across a similar situation, they should always ask before jumping in to assist unless the officer or security personnel are completely incapacitated, Ferrelli said in an email.
“In most instances they will be able to articulate if they need help or not,” Ferrelli said. “Jumping in unannounced may actually make the situation worse as the last thing an officer or security person in peril would need would be to think he/she is being further attacked.”
Twitter @hannahmleone
