Protestors Decry Police Beating of Black Teen Don Pennington
Thursday, September 2, 2004 at 05:33PM
TheSpook
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 ]