Two Officers Indicted in Abandoning Black Youths to Beating by Gang
CHICAGO — Two police officers who allegedly abandoned two black youngsters in a Southwest Side neighborhood where they were beaten by a gang of whites were indicted Friday on misconduct and battery charges.
But Cook County State’s Atty. Cecil A. Partee said there is no evidence that the incident was racially motivated.
The two officers, Kathleen A. Moore, 31, and James J. Serio, 35, allegedly picked up the two black youths on Aug. 15 in the Bridgeport neighborhood--where Mayor Richard M. Daley lives--slapped them around, and then dropped them off in Canaryville, where they were beaten by a gang.
The two officers later were relieved of street duty.
The incident has touched off a flurry of accusations of police brutality and prompted a series of City Council hearings into the charges.
Moore, a four-year veteran of the department, and Serio, a nine-year veteran, were charged with four counts of official misconduct and two counts of battery each. Partee said his office conducted a thorough investigation of the incident.
“Why must it be put in a racial context?” Partee asked. “That’s part of the problem in Chicago today. Everything is being put in a racial context.”
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