Residents, police meet to discuss off-duty cop threatening teen

Video of a police officer holding down a black teenager brought out strong emotions in a south suburb on Wednesday.

The meeting was billed as a way to get residents and police talking, and to help this community move past a video seen by millions.

The cell phone video shot in June shows an off duty police officer pinning down and threatening a black teenager.

“Very tough to watch, just as a resident, as a citizen of the town, tough to watch, just as a human it was tough to watch,” said Lansing resident Saad Abbasy.

The police chief quickly admitted he's not proud of what happened.

“I give you my word, I give you my commitment that from this day forward with your recommendations we're going to move past it, we're going to plow through it,” said Lansing Police Chief Dennis Murrin.

The officer says he was helping police break up a fight involving 30 teens, but it left residents like Yolanda Beamon with many questions.

“Because he was a white officer, black kid, what was the kid doing? What actually happened? Why was he doing the kid like that? Why did he have him on the ground like that?” Beamon said.

To start answering questions, and get people talking calmly, community groups organized the meeting and even included a mediator from the U.S. Department of Justice.

“We can overcome this...this doesn't represent us...this is not our plot...what's going on around the rest of the world...around America...that's not our story...we have our own story here,” said Pastor Leroy Childress.

The officer in that video was placed on administrative leave and the Cook County Sheriff's Office is investigating.

The teenager's family has filed a civil rights lawsuit.