Aspiring documentary film producer, Angel Perez, found himself at the hands of cruel officers back in October 2012. Suffering at the hands of abusive officers, Perez stated that officers raped him when he declined to be a drug informant for them.
Angel Perez
Angel Perez was working as a driver for Castillo Delivery Service when two officers, not in uniform, pulled him over and arrested him. They then drove him over to the police station.
Interrogation
The officers interrogated Perez for two hours about a drug and robbery connection that he knew nothing about. While looking through his phone, officers discovered a contact named “Dwayne” that they wanted more information on.
Harassment
Perez refused to give the officers any information. After two hours they let him go, but not without threatening to harass him every single day until he divulged the information they wanted.
Occasional Smoker
When speaking to Vice, Angel admitted that Dwayne was his pot connect, saying that, “As a writer, I occasionally smoke pot. But who doesn’t?”
Writer
Angel recounted that at one point during his interrogation one of the officers had asked him for writing advice. Angel never recalled giving up that information which leads him to believe that the officers knew about his documentary work that involved the department.
Phone Call
The following day Angel received a call from Officer Jorge Lopez, one of the men that had interrogated him. Officer Lopez apologized for the way Angel was treated and asked him to meet at a nearby location to fill out paperwork to avoid getting his car towed.
Police Brutality
Angel arrived only to be detained a second time. Another man who Angel only knew as “Sergeant” accompanied Officer Lopez. This man was later revealed to be Sergeant Matt Cline, the son of former Chicago Police Department Superintendent Philip Cline, who resigned in disgrace over many well-known cases of police brutality.
Shackled
The two officers drove Angel to the police department, Homan Square, where they handcuffed him to a wall and shackled him by his ankles. The officers continuously probed him about his drug connections and Angel still refused to answer any questions.
Abuse
The more Angel resisted the crueler the cops became. The officers began to twist his body up in extremely painful positions while he remained handcuffed.
Torture
According to court records, the Sergeant sat on Angel’s chest and placed his palms on his eye sockets, and pushed down hard – causing tremendous pain.
Escalating Abuse
The officers continued to torture Angel in various ways until they grew extremely frustrated with his lack of “compliance.” One of the officers then decided he would provide Angel with a glimpse of “jail life” while pulling down his pants and bending him over a chair.
Rape
One of the officers then proceeded to rape Angel with what he believed to be one of the officer’s service revolvers. Sergeant Cline joked, “I almost blew your brains out,” while laughing along with the other officer.
Broken
Eventually Angel broke down and agreed to tell the officers all of the information they were looking for. He agreed to purchase heroin from Dwayne, however he refused to sell drugs back to Dwayne.
PTSD
The officers then let Angel go. “For six months I didn’t go anywhere,” Angel told Vice.
Telling His Story
Despite his lawyer’s protestations, Angel has continued to go public with his story hoping to get justice and prevent this from happening to anyone else. He has faced much harassment throughout the process from many officers.