A veteran Chicago police officer has been accused in a federal lawsuit of beating a mentally disabled teen while off duty last year, sticking his gun in the young man’s mouth and filing a false police report to cover it up.
Both the Independent Police Review Authority, which investigates police misconduct, and the Cook County state’s attorney’s office are looking into the September 2015 incident at the West Side home of Officer Matthew Jackson, the Tribune has learned.
Jackson, a 21-year veteran of the force, became enraged after Nathaniel Taylor, 18, crossed onto his lawn on his way home from school, according to the lawsuit, which was filed Friday. Jackson beat the boy with his fists and shoved his service revolver into Taylor’s mouth, causing multiple lacerations, according to the suit.
Taylor, who has an IQ of 44, was treated at Mount Sinai Hospital and then sent to Cook County Jail on charges of assaulting a police officer and resisting arrest, the lawsuit alleged. He spent a week behind bars before being placed on electronic monitoring, an experience that caused severe emotional trauma, according to the suit.
Richard Dvorak, the attorney representing Taylor’s aunt and legal guardian, sent the Tribune photographs of the scene that appear to show Taylor’s blood splattered on a walkway outside Jackson’s home. He also provided photos of Taylor taken at the hospital that day depicting him with a bloodied nose, a fat lip and blood stains on the pants of his school uniform.
Dvorak said Taylor’s severe mental impairment made the consequences of Jackson’s actions “even more tragic.”
“He’s not someone who should be subjected to this kind of treatment,” Dvorak said. “All (Taylor) did was cross this officer’s lawn. The officer placed felony charges on this young man to cover up his own misconduct.”
Records show Jackson, 47, filed a police report stating Taylor had “attempted to enter his residence” in the 1200 block of South Albany Avenue in the Lawndale neighborhood when Jackson opened the door and announced he was a police officer.
According to the report, Taylor tried to flee, but Jackson caught up to him and a “struggle ensued,” during which Taylor tried to grab Jackson’s gun from the holster. As they wrestled for control of the gun, the weapon “made contact with (Taylor’s) face and mouth area,” the report stated.
Jackson also said he repeatedly yelled, “Chicago police! Stop resisting!” but Taylor continued to fight, according to the report. The officer was treated at a nearby hospital for minor scrapes.
The aggravated battery charge filed against Taylor, which carried up to seven years in prison, was dismissed in April and Taylor instead pleaded guilty to misdemeanor trespassing, court records show.
Reached on his cellphone Friday, Jackson declined to comment on the allegations.
Dvorak said Taylor lodged a complaint with IPRA soon after the incident and that investigators have swabbed Taylor’s DNA to see if there is a match to Jackson’s gun. The test results are pending, he said.
IPRA spokeswoman Mia Sissac confirmed there is a pending investigation but declined to provide details.
The Cook County state’s attorney’s office, meanwhile, plans to review IPRA’s findings to determine whether criminal charges against Jackson were warranted, according to spokeswoman Sally Daly.
Jackson, who is currently on active duty as a patrol officer in the Harrison District, worked for years in the department’s News Affairs office. Available records show two citizen complaints have been lodged against him, both of which were unsustained.
Jackson made headlines six years ago when he obtained an emergency order of protection against his ex-girlfriend, police Cmdr. Penelope Trahanas. Jackson accused Trahanas of making veiled physical threats and said she’d threatened his job security in numerous phone calls after a bitter breakup, according to court documents.
Trahanas was arrested and charged with telephone harassment but later acquitted. She’s currently serving as a police captain.
Chicago Tribune’s Jeff Coen contributed to this report.
Twitter @jmetr22b
