Ill. police investigating after hospital patient attached to IV arrested
By: Don Babwin, The Associated Press
CHICAGO — Police are investigating why a black man being treated for double pneumonia at a northern Illinois hospital was arrested after a hospital security officer confronted him when he walked outside pushing an IV stand he was connected to.
Shaquille Dukes, 24, posted on Facebook that an “overzealous, racist, security officer,” confronted him outside Freeport Health Network while he still was wearing a gown issued from the hospital. Dukes said doctors had suggested he go for a walk and a hospital security officer accused him of trying to steal the IV stand to sell it on eBay.
A video of the June 9 incident shows Dukes and two other men being arrested on disorderly conduct charges by police in Freeport, Illinois, a city of about 25,000 with a black population of about 17%, 115 miles (185 kilometers) northwest of Chicago. Freeport’s city manager has asked a police chief from another community to conduct his own probe to determine if the officers on the scene acted properly.
