In a still image from video posted on social media, Chicago police officers try to take Jamale Douglas into custody on Aug. 25, 2025 in the 2600 block of West 71st Street. (Facebook)

Family members of a 32-year-old man who was taken into custody on Monday raised questions about Chicago police officers’ account of the arrest after a video apparently taken by a bystander appeared to show officers punching the man multiple times during a scuffle, even though the officers reported that he threw a punch at them first.

Jamale Douglas, 32, was charged with two felony counts of aggravated battery to a police officer, as well as misdemeanor counts of resisting arrest, reckless driving and having an expired driver’s license. He appeared before Judge Shauna Boliker at the Leighton Criminal Court Building on Tuesday and was released while his case is pending.

In a proffer to the court, Assistant State’s Attorney Adam Weiner said the police officers saw Douglas on a motorbike without plates, and eventually stopped him after he began driving into oncoming traffic around 1:15 p.m. in the 2600 block of West 71st Street on the city’s Southwest Side.

He refused to give his name, Weiner said, and flailed his arms as officers tried to detain him. Douglas then threw “two closed fist punches” at the officers who responded by “delivering direct strikes,” Weiner said. A police report filed with the case gives the same account.

But Douglas’ mother, Georgia Wilderness, disputed the account, citing a cell phone video of the arrest. A request for comment to the Chicago Police Department was not immediately returned. A spokeswoman for the state’s attorney’s office said they could not comment on pending cases.

During the court hearing, Weiner said, Douglas broke free as the officers tried to detain him. An officer fell and landed on his knee and elbow, he said.

A video posted to Facebook by Douglas’ sister, shows two officers talking to Douglas with the motorbike nearby. As the officers approach him, one puts a hand on Douglas’ arm and he says: “Don’t touch me, bro. I’m trying to pull out my ID.”

Douglas then struggles against the officers as they try to place him under arrest. As the struggle prolongs, the officers tell him to stop, with one officer saying to Douglas, “Dude, there’s a car coming. Stop it.”

After about a minute, as Douglas continues to resist, the video appears to show one officer punch him in the stomach.

“Why you punch me?” Douglas is heard asking. The officer replies: “You just punched me” as Douglas then says, “I didn’t punch you.”

The second officer then swings twice at his face, according to the video.

The video did not appear to show Douglas punch the officer, though the officers partially block him from view of the camera.

“Why are you punching him?” a bystander yelled at the officers.

“Restrain him the right way,” another bystander yelled.

One of the officers then punches him three times, according to the video.

Douglas breaks free, and an officer falls to the ground, the video showed.

“I was crying watching the video,” Douglas’ mother, Georgia Wilderness, told the Tribune. “I was crying.”

Wilderness said her son struggles with mental illness, and only sought to get garbage bags from a nearby Family Dollar when he came into contact with the police.

After her son’s court hearing, she disputed that her son punched the officer, saying, “We saw the video.”

During the court hearing, Weiner said Douglas has three prior felony convictions, including aggravated battery to a police officer. Court records show that Douglas previously pleaded guilty to aggravated battery to a police officer in two other cases in 2011.

https://www.chicagotribune.com/2025/08/26/charges-police-video-throwing-punches/