Man shares video he says shows Chicago officers slashing motorcycle tires at festival

CHICAGO — An Elgin man who attended June’s Puerto Rican Fest in Humboldt Park says cell phone video shows a Chicago police officer taking a knife to the tires of his motorcycles.

Juventino Cortezano, 20, said the tires of his two Polaris Slingshot three-wheeled vehicles were slashed in the incident, leaving him to deal with an approximately $1,000 bill.

“You can see clearly in the video … that was the black Slingshot getting the back tire popped. And then he started popping the rest of the ones around,” Cortezano said, describing the video he shared with WGN.

Cortezano acknowledges his vehicles were parked illegally in an alley, an offense for which he was cited.

“As I start walking back is when I start seeing the tow taking all the cars, not just mine,” he said. “There were a bunch of vehicles in that alleyway.

With the tires slashed, his vehicles were inoperable.

“On top of that, I had to pay for the impound, the towing, the tickets. I had to pay to get the right size of the tires. I had to call different shops because they didn’t have three for each one.”

Police on Thursday announced the arrest of two officers : 53-year-old Deputy Chief Robert Nieves and 26-year-old Officer Jacob Gies. Both surrendered for arrest at the 1st District police station and were relieved of their police powers. Nieves was demoted to the rank of captain and charged with one count of misdemeanor criminal damage of property worth less than $500. Gies was charged with two counts of the same.

CPD officials have not provided details of the incident or what damage the officers allegedly caused.

In a late afternoon joint statement, Ald. Jessie Fuentes (26th Ward), whose ward includes Humboldt Park, State Rep. Lilian Jiménez and Cook County Commissioner Anthony Quezada called for Nieves’ removal from leadership positions in the ward.

“His continued presence in a role of authority will only further erode the fragile trust that has been painstakingly rebuilt,” their statement said, in part. “While his demotion acknowledges the severity of his misconduct, the fact that he will still hold a position of authority where he is expected to mentor younger officers is deeply troubling. Such behavior, when tolerated, sets a dangerous precedent and normalizes misconduct within the department.”

Cortezano said he’ll be contacting an attorney to learn his options.

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