Youth Charges Police In Beating

A 19-year-old Highland Park man, arraigned last week on charges of assaulting a police officer, has, in turn, charged Highland Park police with brutality, false arrest, and verbal abuse.

Robert Koesters, presently free on a $100 cash bond, filed a complaint against the Highland Park police with that city's Human Relations Commission August 27. In the complaint, Koesters said he went to get a pack of cigarettes from his roommate's car just after midnight on August 26, and when he stepped out of the car police drove up and stopped him. After demanding identification, the police headed toward Koesters' car with the intent to search it.

Koesters said he told the police they couldn't search the car, at which point one officer said, "You don't tell me what to do, punk." He said the officer then threw him to the ground and began hitting and kicking him in the face, rib cage, mouth, head, and in the back, with the other officer joining in the assault. He said he was then taken to the hospital and treated for cuts and bruises before being returned to the city jail where he was booked, fingerprinted, and charged with assaulting an officer.

Koesters' father intends to sue the Highland Park Police over the incident. Attorney Buck Davis, representing the Koesters, told The Sun that a civil suit will be filed either after the trial or when the case against Koesters is dismissed.