Brothers Allege Police Brutality In Federal Lawsuit; Beating Caught On Tape (VIDEO)

Brothers Allege Police Brutality In Federal Lawsuit

Two brothers who work at a Southwest Side liquor store filed a federal lawsuit Friday alleging that Chicago police officers beat them when they said their harassment was caught on the store's security tape.

Michael Ayala, 23, and his brother Adrian, 18, allege that while closing up the liquor store where they work last month, police officers mistook them for robbers and began "roughing up" Adrian, who was waiting outside the store, Fox Chicago reported last month. When they were released without charges, Michael says he told police that the incident had been caught on the stores security cameras and he "wasn't going to let it go."

The brothers allege that this comment set off the officers, who "bum rushed" them in the altercation captured by security cameras.

According to CBS Chicago, the Ayala brothers are seeking more than $180,000 in the such, including more than $30,000 in compensatory damages and $150,000 in punitive damages. They claim the officers falsely arrested them and that other officers on the scene of the incident failed to intervene.

The officers are not named in the lawsuit, according to the Chicago Tribune. A CPD spokeswoman told the Tribune that the Independent Police Review Authority is investigating, and declined further comment.

Watch the security footage of the incident in question below:

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