Chicago suburb settling lawsuit over officer pinning teen

LANSING, Ill. – A Chicago suburb is settling a lawsuit filed by the family of a black teenager who was pinned to the ground and threatened by a white off-duty police officer.

The Lansing village board is scheduled to vote Tuesday on the $70,000 settlement.

A Facebook video shows Officer William Mason pinning down 15-year-old Jordan Brunson in June 2017 after he and a white minor refused Mason’s orders to stay off his front lawn.

Brunson family attorney Andrew Stroth tells the Daily Southtown that the family moved from Lansing because the teen was afraid of walking past Mason’s house to and from school.

Lansing officials call the settlement a financial decision and not an admission of wrongdoing. The Lansing Police Department suspended Mason for 25 days without pay for misconduct.