Former Illinois Cop Apologizes For Beating Black Man

In July of last year, a now-former Black police chief in Robbins, Illinois, spent several minutes beating another Black man in the police station interview room after the civilian showed up to file a complaint against him. In August, the officer pleaded guilty to battery and was sentenced to two years’ probation. He also lost his badge, ending a decades-long career in law enforcement that included 23 years he worked as a federal agent before joining the Robbins Police Department. Following the release of video footage last week, the officer broke his silence on Friday, offering an apology — well, a cop’s apology — to the victim.

Former Robbins Police Chief Carl Scott was candid with CBS News about the July 1, 2024, incident.

Actually, maybe “candid” isn’t the right word. It’s more like Scott was somewhat contrite, while also noting that every story has at least two sides and that he let the victim, identified only as James, get the best of him.

Again, this was definitely a cop-pology.

But before we get into all of that, let’s look at what happened last year.

Scott is seen in the video shoving James into the interview room, pushing him against a wall, and telling him to sit down. Then he is heard telling another officer in the room to “turn it off,” presumably referring to the officer’s body camera. Afterwards, he continued to shout at and beat James.

Now, let’s get into his “apology.”

From CBS:

“Everybody needs to know the why, not the one-sided narrative,” Scott said.

The former chief said he understands the video is damning, and he admitted on that day he should have done one thing: walk away.

“That’s something that I could’ve done. It just didn’t happen,” he said.

Instead, Scott said he let the man – who CBS News Chicago is identifying only as James – get the best of him.

James came into the station filming and refused to stop recording. Scott said, when he was called down to the lobby, James threatened his family.

“We humanize the badge. So when we humanize that, then we understand … you understand the frustration,” Scott said, choking back tears. “You understand what it took, you understand what’s at stake, and then you understand what you’re protecting. So then badge meant nothing at that point.”

So, apparently, the victim came into the police station recording, to the dismay of the police officer, who apparently didn’t understand why the man he ended up beating the hell out of might have wanted a video document of his treatment while filing a complaint against the very officer who used him as a punching bag. It’s unclear what James had come to file a complaint over — but one can imagine.

Either way, if Scott’s only side of what he called a “one-sided narrative” was that James provoked him by recording video footage of a police station visit that ultimately proved the danger he was in, his side of that story is weak. It does nothing to justify his actions.

Still, Scott can’t seem to acknowledge his wrongdoing without fishing for sympathy.

“It has cost a distrust with the public, it has cost a defaming of my name, and has cost a strike against my integrity, something that I hold high,” Scott said.

What defamation? What he did is on camera; he pleaded guilty to it, and now he’s offering a half-sincere mea culpa while speaking about it.

Then Scott was asked why he instructed officers to turn their bodycams off, and that’s when the absolute copaganda nonsense began.

“My mind wanted to hold a conversation with him,” he claimed. “I had zero ill intent.”

Bruh — what?

So, now we’re out here pretending “turn the cameras off” isn’t cop speak for, “I’m about to do something wildly brutal and definitely illegal. Hell, y’all know the routine.”

Nah, fam, you wanted to have a “conversation” between your fists and his face. That’s it.

In fact, when James spoke on the situation last year, he appeared to insinuate that Scott wasn’t the only cop who put his hands on him that day.

“He took me in this room slammed me on this metal plate and he told the two officers to cut the cameras off and they just started beating me,” he said.

It’s worth noting that even if the other officers didn’t take part in the beating, the video footage shows they just stood there and watched.

This is what we mean when we say it’s about more than “a few bad apples.”

Also, this is yet another not-so-subtle reminder that the police be lying even when they think they’re telling the truth.

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Ex-Illinois Cop Offers Weak Apology For Beating Black Man Who Came To Police Station To File A Complaint was originally published on newsone.com