July 14 (UPI) — A Chicago police officer who was sued for beating a black woman while she was handcuffed was found to have owned websites with racial slurs toward black people in the domain name, according to a lawsuit.
The city of Chicago is expected to pay $185,000 to settle a case over an incident where Chicago police officer George Granias allegedly beat motorist Patassa Johnson while she was in handcuffs back in 2013. Johnson’s lawyers said they uncovered the domain names while researching the case.
“We came across that URL and said what the hell is this?” Brendan Shiller, Johnson’s attorney, told The Daily Beast.
Shiller said the website was just a blank page, but Granias had made it publicly available and it was able to be found on Google search results.
“He made it live and accessible to the public,” Shiller said. “You can create a website, but Google wouldn’t know about it unless you make it live and accessible.”
City of Chicago officials have not confirmed that Granias owned the domain names, but Shiller told CBS Chicago: “I can tell you this, there’s been no denial that these websites were owned by the sergeant.”
Shiller said Granias’ past record, which involves other complaints of police brutality, including a case confirmed by Chicago police investigators in which Granias beat a minor and banged his head against the wall, is grounds to have him terminated.
“When you look at what he did in this case, in conjunction with his disciplinary record, in conjunction with this bizarre hobby of buying racist and kind of pornographic domain names, this is not somebody who should be a sergeant in the police department,” he said.
On her personal blog, Johnson said she hopes her case will lead to a change in police tactics.
“Although I will be compensated for my pain and suffering, I am not happy. A price will never replace the damage that this has caused me. I am trying to push past this, but it is hard,” she wrote. “If these cops are never held responsible for their wrong doing, things will never change. I hope my case can make a difference.”
