Latino Woman says Chicago cops harassing her family

• Says incidents began after she testified Against Police in Brutality Case

A West Lawn woman has accused Chicago police of systematically harassing her and her two sons, shooting one with a pellet gun, after she testified against them in a police brutality case. In a lawsuit, filed in federal court Tuesday, Laura Ramirez said police officers towed her car, searched and wrecked her home, stole her jewelry and arrested and beat her sons, all without legal justification. In her lawsuit, Ramirez said she has lived in the same house in the 6100 block of South Knox Avenue and held the same union job for 16 years, and has never been in trouble with police. Her attorney, Mark Loevy-Reyes, said she has a clean criminal record. In July 2002, Ramirez saw a neighbor get thrown to the ground by police, who later charged the woman — also a police officer — with assaulting police, according to the lawsuit and Loevy-Reyes. Ramirez offered to testify in her defense and in her civil case against the department, and was identified in court papers. "As soon as they got the paperwork over at the police station, things started happening," Ramirez said. "I had a sergeant come to my house and say my son's car was hazardous, which it wasn't. He made a big deal about it, jumping up and down, saying I had to give him the vehicle and let him tow it away. The only thing on that vehicle was expired plates." Police threatened to arrest Ramirez if she didn't let them take the car. She opened the garage and officers pushed the car into the alley and towed it away, she said. Her sons James, 24, and Anthony, 18, were given $8,000 in parking tickets for places they never went, and they were improperly stopped and searched for no reason, the lawsuit said.  Last summer, police broke into Laura Ramirez's home for an unjustified search without a warrant and impounding Anthony Ramirez's car, the lawsuit said. [more]