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A Lake Villa police officer has been disciplined after he was caught on video telling a teenager that he was being detained “because he’s white”.
The video, posted on Monday by Dezi Baczek on Facebook, already has over 40,000 views and shows Lake Villa Police Department detective Esteban Gomez telling a teen he stopped him because he is white.
Dezi Baczek, who recorded the video, said that her and a group of friends went to a pawn shop in Lake Villa to sell an item to help pay for a book her little brother wanted. As they were walking out from the store, the police detective came up to them.
Dezi Baczek told NBC5 News, “I was yelled at to sit down. I said, ‘What’s the reason?’ and he said sit down or I could turn around and be arrested, so I sat down at that point.”
In the video, the detective can been seen and heard screaming at one of the teens who asked what he did wrong. Detective Esteban Gomez starts to yell and says “Wanna be hard with me? Be hard with me, go ahead. Think you’re a tough guy?”
Detective Gomez starts to walk away and then turns around and says, “Who’s got the weed on them?”
The group reacts to his comment and Detective Gomez turns around once again as he’s walking away and says “Did someone say f**k off?”
The group responds and says no, and Detective Gomez points at two of the teens and says “You and you.”