Lawsuit: SWAT Team Shot 12-Year-Old in Kneecap During Raid
August 10, 2019 in News by RBN Staff
source: reason.com
by C.J. CIARAMELLA
The Illinois boy now suffers from severe PTSD and will walk with a limp for the rest of his life, the lawsuit says.
Twelve-year-old Amir Worship was sitting on the edge of his brother’s bed with his hands in the air when an Illinois SWAT team officer shot him and shattered his kneecap, according to a lawsuit filed in Illinois state court Thursday.
The suit, filed by Amir’s mother, Crystal Worship, alleges that SWAT team officers from the Country Club Hills and Richton Park police departments burst into their house on the night of May 26, throwing flashbangs and detaining the family, including Amir and his 13-year-old brother, at gunpoint. The officers were executing a narcotics search warrant for Worship’s boyfriend, Mitchell Thurman, who was subsequently arrested for illegal gun and drug possession.
According to the lawsuit, a SWAT team officer shot Worship in his bedroom after the room had been secured and “and long after it was obvious that a 12-year-old child posed no threat.”
“In fact, 12-year-old Amir was shot, shot while sitting on the edge of the bed with his hands up,” the lawsuit says. “An officer shot him with his assault rifle, striking him in the knee and shattering his knee cap. At that moment, this officer was pointing his rifle directly at shirtless Amir as he sat on the edge of his brother’s bed.”
