Waukegan officer charged after throwing handcuffed suspect to ground, police say

A Waukegan police officer has been charged with misconduct and misdemeanor battery for throwing a handcuffed person to the ground, the Lake County State’s Attorney’s Office said Wednesday.

Officer Richard Tabisz has been placed on administrative leave following the Dec. 14 incident, according to Waukegan police.

Police said that they had arrested a suspect for domestic violence and violating an order of protection. Tabisz arrived after the arrest, and was taking the suspect to the police department when he yanked the suspect to the ground after the suspect stopped walking, authorities said.

The suspect struck his head on the ground and suffered a minor injury, police said.

Other officers at the scene alerted their superiors, who reviewed body-camera footage and placed Tabisz on leave.

Police brought their information to prosecutors the following day. Following an investigation, Tabisz was charged with official misconduct and battery Wednesday, police said.

“The Waukegan Police Department acted swiftly and appropriately with respect to presenting the evidence to our office,” State’s Attorney Eric Rinehart said. “It is important to point out that there were up to seven officers on the scene and that the civilian was cooperative and had been in custody for several minutes before Tabisz arrived as a transport officer.”

“The situation was completely under control,” Rinehart continued. “Tabisz was not the arresting officer and threw the handcuffed civilian to the ground in the presence of several officers.”

Tabisz is due in court Jan. 17.