COOK COUNTY CRIMINAL COURTHOUSE — A man high on PCP grabbed a female Chicago Police officer by the hair and repeatedly bashed her head into the ground Wednesday, prosecutors said.
As Parta Huff, 28, ripped out clumps of hair, the woman feared for her life, according to authorities. But the officer never once reached for her gun because she was too fearful of possible scrutiny, Chicago Police Supt. Eddie Johnson said Thursday.
At the time of the attack, Huff was free on $10,000 bail for a pending aggravated DUI case that also includes charges of possession of a controlled substance and resisting arrest.
According to Assistant State's Attorney Jamie Santini, who spoke during a bond hearing Friday, Huff has been arrested four times for resisting police — all in connection to traffic stops.
As of Thursday, the female officer was still in the hospital with a severe concussion, neck injury, chipped bones in her wrist and shoulder, and multiple lacerations, prosecutors said.
Her partner sustained a broken thumb, concussion and multiple lacerations. A third officer on the scene was burned while deploying a Taser.
"These allegations show not only disrespect for Chicago police, but a disdain for them," Cook County Judge Donald Panarese Jr. said Friday before denying Huff bail. "This conduct cannot be tolerated."
According to prosecutors, the attack began with a traffic crash about 10:30 a.m. Wednesday near Roosevelt Road and Cicero Avenue. Huff was driving a car that slammed into the front doors of a liquor store.
A clerk who watched Huff exit the vehicle and begin to walk away called 911, Santini said. Shortly after, a citizen was able to flag down a Chicago Police squad car, which promptly made a U-turn and headed toward the scene of the crash, according to prosecutors.
There, officers spotted Huff walking eastbound away from the liquor store, Santini said, adding that Huff was "acting erratically" and appeared drunk. A drug test would later reveal there was PCP in Huff's system.
When the female officer began to arrest Huff, prosecutors said, she was able to get a single handcuff on Huff's left wrist before he began resisting — flailing and punching police.
The officer's partner deployed a Taser, but Huff ripped the Taser prongs off his body and continued to fight, Santini said.
That's when Huff knocked the female officer to the ground, where he grabbed her head and repeatedly bashed it into the pavement, according to prosecutors. The woman lost consciousness as Huff ripped clumps of hair from her scalp.
Her partner once more used a Taser on Huff to no avail. Finally, additional officers arrived on the scene, and a Taser was deployed on Huff for the third time, Santini said. Police were eventually able to pull Huff away from the officer and arrest him.
The female officer and her partner were taken to Lutheran General for treatment.
Huff, meanwhile, was taken to to Loretto Hospital, where he tested positive for PCP, prosecutors said. In court Friday, Huff told Judge Panarese that he only had drugs in his system because he'd been in the hospital the day prior.
Huff appeared in court in orange pants and a grey hoodie. His right eye was badly bruised and swollen shut.
According to his public defender, Huff has a 4-month-old child and another baby on the way. He's completed cosmetology school, the attorney said, and currently works as a janitor and at a chocolate factory.
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