City of Chicago Settles For $2.5 Million After Police Points Loaded Gun At 3-Year-Old

The City of Chicago recently settled a multimillion-dollar suit with the family of Davianna Simmons because the Chicago Police Department pointed a loaded gun at the then 3-year-old. 

According to court documents, the toddler had a loaded gun pointed inches from her chest, despite pleas from her handcuffed mother, Aretha Simmons, and grandmother, Emily Simmons, to turn the weapon away from the child.

The Daily Mail, which claims to have seen firsthand court documents of the incident, reports:

When Davianna’s grandmother cried out for the police officer to take their gun off the child, the family alleges she was told to ‘shut up’, and the gun was not moved. Despite further pleas through screams and sobs, the family say the gun was not moved and that the child suffered a severe form of PTSD afterwards.

The child, who was previously outgoing and ‘happy-go-lucky’, began to suffer crippling nightmares after the event. Testimony filed on behalf of her family claimed Davianna “springs up in the middle of the night and looks around, crying and screaming, ‘the police are coming, the police are here!’ or ‘they’re here.’”

 
According to the complaint, police ransacked the house looking for Aretha Simmons’ alleged boyfriend, Alonzo McFadden, who did not live in the home (but was later arrested outside of the home the same day). After trashing the home, they found no illegal drugs or weapons.

The family alleged police “destroyed the front and back doors to gain entry” to the Simmons home and that they “broke tables, chairs, dressers, a headboard and boxspring mattress, candleholders, and a flat-screen TV, the November 2014 complaint continued.

Davianna’s mother sustained an eye injury in the subsequent arrest and said she did not resist. She was later cleared of all charges.

Davianna was later diagnosed by pediatric psychiatrist Dr. Niranjan Karnik with “one of the worst cases of child post-traumatic stress disorder” he had ever seen, reports the Mail.

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