Dixmoor police commander charged with battery

DIXMOOR, Ill. - Prosecutors have charged a suburban Chicago police commander with aggravated battery for allegedly dragging a 66-year-old grandmother into a police station and slamming her face into a wall.

Cook County prosecutors also charged Dixmoor Commander Ronald Burge Jr. with official misconduct Wednesday in connection with the October altercation with Carla Bourgouis.

Burge, 31, surrendered Wednesday after county investigators obtained a warrant for his arrest. He was ordered held on $20,000 bond.

Bourgouis said she went to the Dixmoor police station after her grandson was arrested. Burge arrested the boy’s father when he refused to hand over a cellphone he was using to record their conversation. Bourgouis said she then also began recording, Burge demanded she give him her cellphone, and she began to leave the station.

Burge chased after Bourgouis. carried her back in, and “then purposefully slammed the victim’s face into the back hallway wall on three separate occasions,” Assistant State’s Attorney Heather Weber said.

Dixmoor Police Chief Ronald Burge Sr., the commander’s father, defended his son’s actions, releasing video that shows Bourgouis breaching a secure area and then ignoring arrest orders. The chief said Bourgouis’ actions forced officers to chase her down.

“She hit her head against the wall because they’re trying to control her,” he said.

All charges against Bourgouis were dropped by prosecutors.