A 29-year veteran Chicago police officer has been stripped of his police powers after a video of him allegedly using a racial slur while at a Chicago bar was posted online.
Lt. Andrew Dakuras, 55, was identified by fellow bartender Raheem, who posted the video on his personal Instagram page.
He recognized Dakuras as the same man who beat a Chicago Cubs fan so badly in 2016 that he needed to be hospitalized.
Now Dakuras is back in the headlines as officials investigate new allegations of off-duty misconduct.
Dakuras, right, was seen at a Chicago bar over the weekend protesting with another man.
Lt. Andrew Dakuras, 55, was identified by a fellow bartender who posted the video on his personal Instagram page.
Raheem posted three clips on social media showing two men in an altercation at a bar last weekend.
In one of the videos, a man, identified as Dakuras, can be seen looking across a bar, apparently angry at another man standing a few feet away.
“What the fuck, bro?” the man is heard asking.
In a second clip, Dakuras can be seen angrily shouting insults while aggressively pointing at the face of a man standing in front of him.
“You’re nobody, black,” the man seems to say.
As he is led away, a bystander can be heard saying that he had been “throwing N-bombs.”
Finally, in a third clip, Raheem identified Dakuras, who was calm once again.
Dakuras could be seen standing up in front of another customer at the bar.
In the first clip, another man is seen being dragged away after arguing with Dakuras.
“Aren’t you a police officer?” he asks the plainclothes police lieutenant.
—Not me, my friend. I’m nobody, my friend —Dakuras answers.
The Chicago Police Department has confirmed that the incident is being investigated by the Civilian Office of Police Accountability, however the office declined to identify the officer or officers being investigated.
However, a Chicago Police Department spokesman confirmed that Lt. Andrew Dakuras was relieved of his police powers on Wednesday pending the outcome of the investigation.
“I didn’t really know how to react because I knew it was the police and he wasn’t talking to me, but it was still affecting me. I felt like I was in a weird position, like I was upset and didn’t know how to direct my anger,” Raheem told Fox 32.
The video was posted online by Raheem, who said he felt “uncomfortable” by what he heard.
Dakuras was honored, as seen above, for rescuing a woman who was being attacked in 2019.
“They need to pay attention to the complaints that have been filed. Pay attention to the officers that they have. They are the ones that are arresting our communities,” Raheem said.
Three years ago, a federal jury found Dakuras used excessive force when a man was knocked to the ground and punched during the Chicago Cubs’ 2016 World Series celebration.
Dakuras kicked and slammed the man’s head into the pavement during the celebration after the Cubs won Game 7 of the series.
The man was awarded $53,000 in damages. At the time, Dakuras had 73 complaints against him.
The 2021 ruling added to the $278,000 the city paid to settle six previous lawsuits against Dakuras.
Dakuras and other undercover officers were working in the Wrigleyville area on the November night in 2016 when the Cubs defeated Cleveland, sparking a massive celebration outside Wrigley Field.
In 2019, a video shows Dakuras, second from left, being honored alongside two other officers.
In 2021, a federal jury ruled in favor of Asher Kaufman in his lawsuit against then-Sergeant Andrew Dakuras, awarding him more than $53,000 in damages after Dakuras tackled, punched and kicked him after the Cubs won the World Series in 2016.
During the trial, Asher Kaufman testified that he and his girlfriend had joined the celebration outside a tavern near Wrigley when another sergeant, Joseph Mirus Jr., grabbed him and confiscated a half-pint of whiskey he had purchased at a nearby store.
Kaufman said he thought Mirus was a bouncer at the bar and began fighting with him and Dakuras, both in plain clothes, before Dakuras took Kaufman’s cell phone and ran away.
Kaufman said he chased Dakuras and tackled him when several uniformed and plainclothes officers lunged at him.
He said Dakuras told him, “I love this part, free throws,” and grabbed him by the hair, punched him in the face and side of the head, jumped on him and slammed his head into the pavement. Kaufman was arrested and Dakuras took him to a hospital for treatment.
He was charged with resisting arrest, assault and public consumption of alcohol. In 2017, a judge found him guilty of a misdemeanor charge of resisting arrest but found him not guilty of assault and public consumption of alcohol.
But Dakuras’ police history has not been all marred by turmoil. In 2019, a video shows him being honored along with two other officers for rescuing a woman who was being attacked.