- Police Brutality Watch

In November, Monticello police swooped down on an apartment complex on Wood Avenue, pointed shotguns at two Hispanic men eating lunch in an apartment and cuffed them, pinning one against a fence and forcing the other to the ground. They had the wrong suspects. Now Guillermo Ortiz, 21, and Christopher Abreu, 20, are suing the village in federal court, claiming police used excessive force, had no probable cause to arrest them and targeted them only because they are Hispanic. The lawsuit, which was filed on Monday in the United States District Court, alleges police acted "maliciously, in bad faith, and with racial animus and a deliberate indifference to plaintiffs' constitutional rights." The two are seeking compensatory damages for "psychological injuries" as a result of being "demeaned and humiliated," as well as punitive damages. On Nov. 29, cops were looking for a 21-year-old Hispanic suspect who allegedly assaulted his girlfriend that morning at Hillside Apartments. She told cops Renando Torres, 21, choked her, pinned her down and stuck a gun in her mouth. The woman gave police a sketchy description of Torres and his address. Torres' apartment was next door to Abreu's apartment on Wood Avenue. Abreu spotted the police cars and opened the door. Police pointed guns at him and ordered him out. He was restrained on the ground and then pushed up against a fence, Ortiz said in a previous interview. Police then ordered Ortiz, who was on his lunch break and wearing a shirt and tie, out of the apartment and handcuffed him, ordering him to the ground. [more]