Nov. 25--A veteran Chicago police officer who allegedly was caught on surveillance cameras punching and kicking a convenience store security worker pleaded not guilty Tuesday to federal charges alleging he used excessive force.
Aldo Brown, 37, pleaded not guilty to the three-count indictment charging him with violating the alleged victim's civil rights and obstructing justice. He was released on his own recognizance.
The federal indictment unveiled last week accused the 12-year veteran of beating Jecque Howard at the Omar Salma convenience store in the South Shore neighborhood and then lying in a police report to cover it up.
Howard alleged in a federal lawsuit that Brown had also pointed a gun at him during the arrest and pulled the trigger, saying, "You're lucky it wasn't loaded." That allegation was not included in the indictment, however. The city settled the lawsuit for $100,000, records show.
According to the charges, Brown and his partner entered the store in the 2800 block of East 76th Street on an afternoon in September 2012 and handcuffed Howard and several others together. After his partner removed the handcuffs from Howard, Brown allegedly struck him multiple times, "resulting in bodily injury," the charges allege.
Moments later, while Howard was lying on the floor and again in handcuffs, Brown removed a firearm from Howard's rear pocket, then kicked him, according to the charges. Brown and his partner then arrested Howard.
Howard, who was working for the store, was charged with felony unlawful use of a weapon and misdemeanors for marijuana possession and no valid firearm owner's identification card, records show. But the charges were later dropped.
Surveillance footage showed Brown exchanging words with Howard and then punching him on the right side of his head, knocking him to the floor. About a minute later, Howard had risen to his feet when Brown appeared to deliver a hard punch to Howard's midsection.
On the video, posted to YouTube, Brown dragged Howard toward the back of an aisle and handcuffed him again. As Howard lay on the floor, Brown appeared to make a cellphone call, then walked over and kicked him in the side.
Howard's attorney, Timothy Fiscella, said last week that the attack came from "out of the blue."
"It was bizarre," Fiscella said. "He just cold-cocked him. It was completely unprovoked and pretty brutal."
According to the indictment, Brown made false statements in a report, including that Howard was an "active resister" who "fled" and "pulled away." Brown also failed to indicate that he had punched or kicked the victim, the charges allege.
Brown and his partner, Officer George Stacker, who were assigned to a tactical unit in the South Chicago police district, were both stripped of police powers shortly after the incident and have since been assigned to paid desk duty, police spokesman Marty Maloney said. Stacker was not criminally charged.
Records show the city settled another lawsuit for $37,000 by a man who alleged that Brown punched him in the face during a search at a gas station.
jmeisner@tribpub.com
Twitter jmetr22b
