FREEPORT, Ill. (AP) – A central Illinois man says he was racially profiled when he was arrested by police as he walked outside a hospital with an attached IV.
The Journal-Standard reports Freeport police on June 9 arrested Shaquille Dukes, his brother and another man for disorderly conduct because of their conduct toward a security officer and police. Authorities say the security guard called the police because he believed Dukes was trying to steal the equipment.
The 24-year-old Dukes says he had been hospitalized with pneumonia for two days when his doctor cleared him to go for a walk outside, as long as he didn’t leave FHN Memorial Hospital property.
Dukes says he and the others were asked to approach the guard’s vehicle he did so, taking him off hospital property. He says the IV was removed after he was arrested, causing him to pass out.
Freeport police Lt. Andrew Schroeder says people shouldn’t rush to judgment about the case.