A former Chicago police officer is facing felony charges nearly a year after a he was caught on video restrainingand struggling with a Black woman as she was walking her dog on North Avenue Beach.
Bruce Dyker, who is White, resigned from the Chicago Police Department last month, before the department announced any disciplinary action against him for the confrontation.
Dyker Charged with Aggravated Battery, Official Misconduct
Dyker has been charged with aggravated battery and official misconduct over the incident. He is expected to be arraigned later this week.
Dyker, who was placed on desk duty shortly after the incident, had been a Chicago officer since 1998. The encounter occurred shortly after midnight in August 2021 when Dyker approached Nikkita Brown and asked her to leave the beach as it was closed to the public.
'I'm About to Put Handcuffs on You'
Body camera video released by Brown's lawyer shows Brown asking the officer to respect her space as he emerges from his cruiser. "It's Covid," she can be heard saying. It isn't clear what occurred before the video, but Dyker can be heard responding: "Respect your space? I'm about to put handcuffs on you."
Brown then stops, with a cell phone in her hand, and the officer can be seen attempting to take her phone, grabbing and holding onto her right arm with both hands as she screams and struggles to break free, still holding the leash of her dog, entangled in the scuffle. Brown loses a shoe and drops her phone as the officer gains control over both of her arms and fully restrains her.
The physical struggle lasts for a little over a minute before the officer releases her. They can be seen continuing to speak to one another as she collects her belongings and then walks away from the lakefront. The officer walks the opposite direction, back toward the beach and the video ends.
Watch the bodycam footage:
One video taken by a bystander, which was widely released after the incident, appears to show Brown and her dog backing away from the officer as he continues to follow her and gesture with his arms to steer her away from the lakefront. The video, taken from a distance, does not capture audio of their conversation.
Dyker's Previous Allegations of Misconduct
Attorneys for Brown called the encounter an "unprovoked attack" and an "obvious case of racial profiling," saying she was emotionally traumatized by the confrontation.
He had at least 24 misconduct allegations against him, three of which were sustained and resulted in discipline. Two of them were for neglect of duty, and one was quite serious - involving an off-duty incident that occurred in Tennessee.
According to the Invisible Institute, it was alleged that Dyker displayed and pointed his weapon at a victim, failed to follow lawful orders by a police official, and verbally abused the victim. He was arrested on three counts of aggravated assault.
Dyker agreed to a 20-day suspension after the allegations against him were sustained by the Independent Police Review Authority - the predecessor organization to the Civilian Office of Police Accountability.
