Who Will Protect Our Children from the Police?

Will Grigg -

The Dolton, Illinois police officer caught on camera assaulting a helpless, mentally handicapped 16-year-old student has been identified as 38-year-old Christopher Lloyd.

Unlike the veteran character actor who shares that name (best known for playing eccentric characters such as “Reverend” Jim Ignatowski on the TV series “Taxi,” Klingon commander Kruge in Star Trek III, and Doc Brown in the Back to the Future series), Officer Lloyd is a violent criminal who should never have been given access to school-age youngsters.

This morning’s Chicago Tribune reports that Lloyd was arrested last month on charges of raping a woman in Indiana. Court documents allege that Lloyd, who had previously threatened the woman with a knife, held a pillow over her face while sexually assaulting her.

In spite of being accused of assault rape, Lloyd was permitted to roam the halls of a school in the Chicago suburb while armed and clothed in both a state-issued costume and the supposed authority to inflict violence on those who didn’t render immediate and unconditional obedience to him.

In February of last year, Lloyd gunned down a man named Cornel McKinney, at the time his ex-wife’s new husband. Lloyd shot McKinney twenty-four times, but wasn’t prosecuted because the Chicago Police Department, for which he worked at the time, accepted his claim that the shooting was an act of self-defense.

Even though no criminal charges were filed against him, Lloyd was dismissed from the force, but shortly thereafter found another job as a policeman in Dolton.

The Dolton police force terminated Lloyd’s employment last Wednesday, and the ex-officer is now in jail in Lake County, Indiana awaiting trial on the rape charge.

While it’s true that, even today, there are many honorable and decent men working as police officers, we must understand that the uniform is a bit like Forrest Gump’s proverbial box of chocolates: You never know what you’ll find inside. In this case, however, the hidden surprise may be a pretty unpleasant one.