Many of the people who attended Oak Lawn’s National Night Out on Tuesday were aware the Police Department was being investigated for the punches officers used to subdue a 17-year-old boy last week.

Some thought the officers were too aggressive, but many of the people questioned said they understand the officers’ concerns and appreciate the work they do.

About 200 people attended the night out, a national event started in 1984 for residents to meet their police officers, build a sense of community and learn about their operations.

Oak Lawn’s event included tours of the police station’s booking and lockup areas, explanation of police equipment and firefighter demonstrations.

“I was afraid to come to this,” said Patty Vandergriend, who grew up in Oak Lawn and lives in Hometown, explaining she feared someone would start trouble.

Earlier Tuesday, the Arab American teen who Oak Lawn police charged with resisting arrest and unlawful use of a weapon after he ran off from a traffic stop July 27, had been sent home in his parents’ custody after a court appearance at the Cook County juvenile detention center.

“He belongs in jail,” said Vandergriend, who came to the night out because she said she doesn’t want to live her life in fear.

“What was he doing with that gun in the first place?” she said. “You do the crime, you do the time.”

But Vandergriend acknowledged the officers “didn’t have to hit him five times.”

Osvaldo Ochoa agreed.

He said the officers’ use of force was too much. They should have taken him down and made sure he did not grab his gun by some other means than repeatedly punching him, he said.

But Ochoa’s advice is “You just gotta obey the cops. Don’t run.”

Sean Schrader and his family attended the National Night Out for the first time. Part of the reason he came was to support the police, he said.

“They do such a good job and are active in the community and are always responsive,” said Schrader, who has lived in Oak Lawn for 13 years.

The circumstances have to be considered when judging the officers’ response, Schrader said.

“It’s all in the context. I mean he ran away from the cops, he had a gun and it could have ended up a lot worse,” Schrader said.

Alexis Muller, too, attended for the first time.

“I came to support our Oak Lawn police,” said Alexis Muller, who said she was born and raised in Oak Lawn.

Amy and Franky Gonzalez attended with their two children.

Amy said she was “50-50”on the question of whether the police behaved appropriately.

“They shouldn’t have hit him, but then again the guy shouldn’t have ran away in the first place,” she said.

Her husband, Franky Gonzalez, said he feels the same. He had seen both videos and heard both sides’ version of what had happened.

“Until you see everything from the traffic stop to how it ended,” you shouldn’t judge, Franky said.” Maybe they used excessive force, but maybe he had a gun and they had to look out for public safety and their own safety.”

Luis Mayen, of Park Forest, was at the National Night Out with a local Boy Scout troop. He wondered whether there might be demonstrators.

“My biggest concern was for the boys,” he said.

Mayen said he waited to see both videos before he judged the Oak Lawn officers’ behavior.

“It does look very aggressive,” he said, but he is waiting “for more facts to come out.”

“I am a big police supporter,” Mayen said. “And I have several friends that are police officers.”

Members of the boy’s family, the Arab American Action Network and others held a protest July 28 outside the Oak Lawn police station after a passerby posted on social media a video of three officers repeatedly punching the Bridgeview teenager as he lay face down on the ground. An officer also used a Taser on the teen. Protesters said the police used excessive and unnecessary force when they stopped him.

The Police Department released video from an officer’s dashboard camera which showed an officer pulling a car over on the 9500 block of Austin Avenue, searching the driver, who complied with the officer’s instructions to stand at the rear of the vehicle. The teen followed the officer’s instructions to exit the car, but ran away when he was told to put his hands on the car.

The police video continues to when the teenager is stopped and officers pummel him on the ground, as they yell at him to put his hands behind his back. Police recovered a loaded handgun from the shoulder bag the juvenile was wearing. Oak Lawn officials stand by their officers’ action and commended them for using nonlethal force, when they feared he was reaching for a gun.

The juvenile was hospitalized with injuries and released Monday.

The teen filed a federal lawsuit Monday alleging his civil rights were violated and accused the three unnamed Oak Lawn police officers of engaging in “extreme and outrageous conduct” in the course of the arrest. The lawsuit seeks unspecified damages and names the village, Oak Lawn’s Police Department and three officers as defendants.

The Illinois State Police is conducting an independent investigation of the incident, at the request of the Cook County state’s attorney’s office.

Kimberly Fornek is a freelance reporter for the Daily Southtown.