24-year-old Shaquille Dukes said that he was racially profiled by police officers while he was being treated at a hospital in Chicago, Illinois and was arrested by the “white police officers” when he went on a walk with his IV drip.
The police arrested the 24-year-old with misdemeanor disorderly conduct after a security guard called them and said that he was trying to steal medical equipment from the hospital.
In a statement that was released by the Freeport Police Department on Sunday, they confirmed that Dukes filed a complaint and said that “unfair and biased conduct by responding officers” was done.
The Freeport Police Department has also hired an investigator to “gather the facts, interview all parties involved, and determine whether officers conducted themselves in adherence to department policies and guidelines.”
In a Facebook post that was made by Shaquille, he wrote and explained how the police officers confronted him while he was still in a hospital gown and told him that he was planning to sell all the medical equipment he had with him on eBay.
Shaquille said, “Come to Freeport on Vacation and leave on Probation. This is truly one of the most racist cities in America. I was admitted into the hospital for double pneumonia, after receiving doctors orders to walk around, I was stopped by an overzealous, racist, security officer, who claimed that I ‘was trying to leave the hospital to sell the IV equipment on eBay.”
He added, “They took my rescue inhaler and began to transport me to the city lockup, while in transit I began to have a seizure, and subsequently am asthma attack, I pleaded with officers for almost four minutes to retrieve my inhaler from the transporting officer, and finally, when I became unresponsive, it miraculously appeared.”
Here is the Facebook post that was made by Shaquille:
During an interview with CNN, Shaquille said that the police officers took his emergency inhaler and his IV was removed by a non-medical practitioner.
But according to a statement by the police, the IV was removed by FHN medical personnel.
When the hospital was asked to give a comment about the incident, they declined and said that they are cooperating with the police investigation.
More news and updates about the Shaquille Dukes case are yet to be posted.