The Cook County sheriff’s office will take another look into the incident involving an off-duty white Lansing police officer captured on video pinning a black teen on the ground, officials said Thursday.
Cara Smith, the chief policy officer for Sheriff Tom Dart, said sheriff’s investigators are coordinating with the alleged victim’s attorney, Andrew Stroth, who agreed to make the teen available for an interview with them.
“The interview is an important part of our process,” Smith said.
On Wednesday, Smith said examination of the incident had come to a halt because of investigators’ inability to interview Jordan Brunson, 15.
Stroth confirmed Thursday that he spoke with sheriff’s officials about coordinating an interview with Brunson about the June 24 incident involving officer William Mason.
“We welcome the opportunity to talk to the Cook County sheriff’s office,” Stroth said.
Prior to Thursday’s agreement, Smith said sheriff’s officials made “repeated attempts” to secure an interview between Brunson and sheriff’s investigators, but Brunson could not be reached.
Stroth, however, said he was never in contact with sheriff’s officers regarding an interview with Brunson before Thursday.
Sheriff’s officials initially reviewed police reports, conducted witness interviews, and watched the video of the incident, but were unable to go any further without the interview, Smith said.
The sheriff’s department began reviewing the incident after Lansing Mayor Patricia Eidam asked for an investigation.
On Aug. 3, a civil rights lawsuit was filed in federal court against Mason, on behalf of Brunson and his family.
The suit, which also names Lansing, claims Mason’s actions were without “lawful justification” and that Brunson never posed a threat.
Matthew Welch, a lawyer for Lansing, said then he had no comment.
Mason could not be reached for comment.
The suit also claims Brunson “suffered and continues to suffer, among other things, bodily injury, pain, suffering, severe mental and emotional distress, fear, anguish, humiliation …”
Brunson said in an interview that the officer pinned him to the ground after he attempted to leave Mason’s front lawn with a friend who was injured in an altercation that day.
He has acknowledged that Mason told them to halt until officers arrived but they continued to leave the property.
But in a police report, Mason said after he told the boys again to stay, Brunson “started to come at me, in an aggressive manner, like he was going to strike me and came very close to me.
“Fearing (Brunson) would attack me and I was unsure if he had any weapons, I grabbed him in the middle of his sweatshirt and pulled him on the ground,” Mason recalled in the report.
Mason said he continued to detain the teen until officers arrived.
According to Lansing police, Mason’s contact with Brunson started after a caller told a police dispatcher at about 3:45 p.m. June 24 that about 30 juveniles were fighting near the officer’s home. Brunson was near the incident, but was not part of it, Stroth said.
