Protestors Decry Police Beating of Black Teen Don Pennington

Chanting and singing, some 100 outraged family and friends of Don Pennington Jr. squeezed into the Calumet City police station Wednesday evening to file a complaint against officers the teen said beat him up after taking him into custody for jaywalking near his school. Vicki and Don Pennington Sr., the parents of the 15-year-old Calumet City boy, stoically stood by him outside the station as their former pastor read the complaint aloud and named the officer Don said hit him for no reason. "(The officer) struck a young boy in the face like he was a man, and when he struck him in the face, he hit this whole community," said Lance Davis, who now ministers at New Zion Christian Fellowship in Dolton. Davis said the black community is tired of its children being pulled over for jaywalking and treated roughly by police, adding, "If they touch another child, there will be civil unrest." [more ]

• Images: Calumet City Teen Alleges Police Brutality [more ]
• Teen says he was beaten by police [more ]