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19 May, 2015 16:05

Chicago cop investigated for 'punching pregnant woman in stomach'

Chicago cop investigated for 'punching pregnant woman in stomach'

The Chicago Police Department is investigating claims that an officer punched a pregnant African American woman in the stomach, putting her in the hospital.

City resident Nicola Robinson told a local Fox affiliate that she was assaulted by a police officer on Friday evening after he caught her having a laugh at the officer’s expense.

The police officer was chasing a suspected drug dealer on foot, Fox 32 reported, and Robinson says she laughed out loud when she witnessed the man get away.

According to Robinson, the cop then came over and gave her a push, then slugged her in the gut before launching into a racist rant.

“As I got ready to walk in my building he punched me on my right side as hard as he can,” she told the station.

“After he punched me, he presumed to say 'You black bitch, you better be glad I didn't hit you hard enough to make you lose your fucking baby,’” Robinson said.

Caught on camera: Pregnant woman says cop punched her in the stomach after she laughed at him. Details @fox32newspic.twitter.com/k5mgGhjNCM

— Craig Wall FOX 32 (@craigrwall) May 19, 2015

Robinson is eight months pregnant and was admitted to a local hospital, where she spent five hours before being given the all-clear.

The woman’s sister, Monique Dickerson, told Fox 32 that she witnessed the incident, and an employee with a management company that oversees an adjacent building said it was caught on camera.

READ MORE: Torture victims to get $5.5 million from Chicago police

“The other two officers who [were] with him were standing there and they're looking like, what are you doing,” added Dickerson, “but I guess they didn't want to say anything.”

The Chicago PD’s Independent Police Review Authority is now investigating the allegations, according to the station, and in a statement the agency called the claims "very disturbing” and added that such "abhorrent behavior” would not be tolerated.

Robinson’s claims, first reported on Monday evening by Fox 32, follow news announced last month that Mayor Rahm Emanuel was endorsing a deal that establishes a $5.5 million reparations package to go toward individuals who suffered in the 1970s and 1980s under former Police Commander Jon Burge. An internal review determined in 1993 that Burge had used torture, including electric shock, mock executions and suffocation, during interrogations carried out by the Chicago PD over nearly two decades.

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