CHICAGO Cop sues estate of teen he shot, claiming trauma

Associated Press

CHICAGO

A white Chicago police officer who fatally shot a black 19-year-old college student and accidentally killed a neighbor has filed a lawsuit against the teen’s estate, arguing the shooting left him traumatized.

The highly unusual suit was filed Friday in the middle of the city’s effort to grapple with serious questions about the future of its police force. Those questions include the adequacy of its system for investigating police shootings and how to win back public trust after several cases of purported misconduct. The U.S. Justice Department is conducting a wide-ranging civil-rights investigation, and Mayor Rahm Emanuel has promised an overhaul of the police department and steps to heal its fraught relationship with black residents.

The timing and unusual nature of the suit by officer Robert Rialmo, who is seeking $10 million in damages, could complicate the department’s efforts to demonstrate more sensitivity toward the community in how police shootings are handled. His attorney, Joel Brodsky, said it was important to send a message that police “suffer damage like anybody else.”

The teen’s father, Antonio LeGrier, filed a wrongful death lawsuit days after the Dec. 26 shooting, saying his son, Quintonio, was not armed with a weapon and was not a threat. His attorney, Basileios Foutris, was incredulous at what he called the officer’s “temerity” in suing the grieving family of the person he shot. “That’s a new low even for the Chicago Police Department,” he said. “First you shoot them, then you sue them.”

The lawsuit provides the officer’s first public account of how he says the shooting happened, offering details that differ with the family’s version. It says Rialmo, who was responding to a domestic disturbance call with another officer, opened fire after Quintonio LeGrier swung a bat at the officer’s head at close range. A downstairs neighbor, 55-year-old Bettie Jones, was standing nearby and was shot and killed by accident.