COOK COUNTY CRIMINAL COURTHOUSE — A Chicago Police officer was charged Tuesday with official misconduct for allegedly punching and shoving a 24-year-old man in 2014.
Officer Clauzell Gause was transporting the man to Jackson Park Hospital in June 2014 when the man punched Gause, prosecutors said. Gause, who's been on the force since 2004, is accused of responding in kind.
"You and I and those like us who choose public service — we're held to a higher standard," Cook County Judge Adam Bourgeois Jr. told Gause during a bond hearing Tuesday. "That's the long and short of it.'
"Whatever happened, happened," the judge continued. "You'll have to face the consequences."
Prosecutors said they flagged the 2-year-old attack as part of an ongoing effort "to identify and prosecute police misconduct" alongside the Independent Police Review Authority (IPRA).
Gause, 40, was released on his own recognizance Tuesday. According to his defense attorney, Gause has spent his entire CPD career in the Calumet District and has no disciplinary history.
In this case, Gause was called to Roseland Community Hospital about 10:30 p.m. June 3, 2014, to transport a 24-year-old man to Jackson Park Hospital for a mental-health evaluation, prosecutors said.
Gause was in full uniform at the time and driving a CPD squadrol, Assistant State's Attorney Theresa Smith said in court Tuesday.
Once at Jackson Park, 7531 S. Stony Island Ave., hospital staff brought the 24-year-old to a triage room to take his blood pressure, prosecutors said. The man was not handcuffed at the time.
At some point, the man stood up and punched Gause in the face, Smith said. A witness restrained and handcuffed the 24-year-old, who was then taken to a patient observation room.
Video surveillance captured Gause pushing the man into his room and then into a nearby wall, Smith said. When the man bounced back toward Gause, Gause punched the man in his face, she added.
Gause is accused of then holding the 24-year-old man down on his bed and punching him two more times in his body. According to Smith, the victim's "swelling and lacerations" were documented in photographs and medical records.
Prosecutors this week charged Gause with official misconduct.
If convicted, officials said, he could face probation or two to five years in prison.
Neither the Chicago Police Department nor the Cook County Sheriff's Office could provide a mugshot of Gause on Tuesday. Both agencies directed reporters to the Cook County State's Attorney's Office, which was the arresting agency in this case. A spokesperson from the state's attorney's office on Tuesday refused to provide a photo of Gause.
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