A former Chicago-area police chief is publicly responding for the first time after newly released body camera footage showed him violently assaulting a man inside a police station—an incident that ultimately ended his law enforcement career.
According to CBS News, Carl Scott, the former acting police chief of Robbins, Illinois, resigned in July 2024 after allegations surfaced that he beat a man who had come to Village Hall to file a complaint against him.
WARNING: Disturbing footage ahead.
More than a year later, video evidence made public by the Cook County Sheriff’s Office has confirmed the severity of the encounter, showing Scott striking the man repeatedly in an interview room while other officers were present.
The incident dates back to July 1, 2024, when a 43-year-old man—identified publicly only as James—entered Robbins Village Hall and recorded the event on his cellphone. James is known online as “Tyrant Terminator Audits,” a YouTube creator who documents interactions inside government buildings as part of First Amendment auditing.
According to prosecutors and a CBS News report released at the time, Scott confronted James in the lobby and began recording him with his own phone. When James refused to provide identification, Scott ordered him taken to the back of the station.
What happened next was captured on surveillance and body camera footage. Prosecutors say Scott knocked the phone out of James’s hand, shoved him into a door, and struck him in the back of the head.
Inside an interview room, Scott is seen grabbing James by the neck, forcing him to sit, and continuing to hit and yell at him. At one point, Scott appears to instruct another officer wearing a body camera to “turn it off.”
James later said that he feared he would not leave the building alive. “I just started thinking about all type of stuff like George Floyd,” he said.
He alleged the beating lasted several minutes and claimed other officers did nothing to intervene. Photographs taken after his release showed bruising and swelling to his face, along with reported headaches.
Scott was placed on unpaid administrative leave shortly after the incident. Robbins Mayor Darren Bryant moved to fire him without waiting for the outcome of an investigation by the Cook County Sheriff’s Public Integrity Unit. However, Scott resigned before termination proceedings were finalized.
In December 2025, the Cook County Sheriff’s Office released the body and surveillance camera footage, prompting renewed public scrutiny, per another CBS News report. Shortly after, Scott broke his silence, acknowledging his actions and apologizing for what occurred.
“Everybody needs to know the why, not the one-sided narrative,” Scott said in an interview with CBS Chicago. He admitted the footage was damaging and said he should have walked away. “That’s something that I could’ve done. It just didn’t happen.”
Scott claimed James threatened his family, though neither James nor his attorney, Jed Stone, responded to that allegation. Scott also attempted to explain his order to turn off the body camera, saying, “My mind wanted to hold a conversation with him.” He added, “I had zero ill intent.”
Despite his explanation, the legal outcome was decisive. Scott pleaded guilty earlier this year to battery charges stemming from the incident. He was sentenced to two years of probation and had his law enforcement certification revoked, permanently barring him from working as a police officer in Illinois.