Prosecutors say a man put a victim in a chokehold during an argument over two pro basketball players and then broke a police officer’s hand while he was in custody in Mundelein.
Anthony A. Brown, 47, of Mundelein, was charged with domestic battery, resisting arrest causing injury and obstructing a peace officer.
The Mundelein Police Department responded around 11 p.m. on April 9 to a 911 call from a child where dispatch could hear screaming and fighting.
Lake County Assistant State’s Attorney Mary Vukovich said officers arrived and talked to the victim, who is the adult son of Brown’s girlfriend.
The victim said he was downstairs hanging out with everybody when he and Brown got into a disagreement over basketball.
Brown got into the victim’s face and the victim tried to go upstairs to remove himself from the situation but Brown kept coming at him, Vukovich said.
The victim and his two sisters locked themselves in a bathroom and Brown broke the door.
One of the children told officers that Brown put her brother in a chokehold and that is when she called 911, Vukovich said.
Vukovich said the toilet broke when Brown put the victim in the chokehold. The child was crying and distressed.
Officers asked Brown to step outside and he would not comply with them so they attempted to guide him outside.
Brown swatted at an officer’s arm and continued to resist officers by kicking at them, Vukovich said.
They were eventually able to take Brown into custody. He admitted to being in a physical altercation but later said it was only a verbal altercation over Lebron James and Michael Jordan.
Vukovich said Brown made derogatory and sexual comments to female officers while in the squad car.
He was yelling while at the police station and said he was going to sue the police.
Vukovich said officers had to put Brown into a restraining chair because he was being aggressive. They instructed him to sit down and tried to put him in the chair.
An officer was holding down Brown’s arm as officers were trying to put him in the chair, Vukovich said.
Vukovich said Brown got his hand away and pinned the officer’s forearm down to the metal frame of the chair.
The officer suffered a cut on his left arm, had swelling and pain in the arm and could not form a full fist on his left hand.
An ambulance was called and the officer was transported to the hospital where it was determined the officer’s hand was broken.
Brown was recently on probation for an aggravated battery conviction arising from a domestic incident where he was charged with strangulation. He also has several other prior domestic battery arrests, Vukovich said.
The Lake County State’s Attorney’s Office filed a petition to detain him pending trial and Lake County Judge Ari Fisz granted the petition following a detention hearing.
Brown remains held in the Lake County Jail and is scheduled to appear in court again on May 7 for a preliminary hearing.