Two years after 19-year-old Quintonio LeGrier was shot and killed by police, lawyers representing the city of Chicago are looking to sue the late teen's estate. The city's lawyers claim that the life of an innocent bystander was taken because of LeGrier.
It's an unusual case of authorities placing culpability on another victim to take the heat off of themselves as an unfortunate accident.
According to the Chicago Tribune, the lawsuit blames LeGrier for the shooting that also killed 55-year-old Bettie Jones.
The proposed suit rests largely on allegations that LeGrier tried to hit Officer Robert Rialmo with an aluminum baseball bat before the officer opened fire, killing both the teenager and Jones, a neighbor standing nearby.If successful, the suit could shift some of the city’s potentially hefty financial liability for the death of an innocent woman onto LeGrier’s estate.
This is the second lawsuit resulting from LeGrier's shooting. The officer who fired the gun, Robert Rialmo, previously filed a suit against the Chicago Police Department for signing off on his "inadequate training." Rialmo is also suing the LeGrier estate, citing that killing the teen "caused him emotional trauma."
The fatal incident took place at 4:30 am on the day after Christmas in 2015. Rialmo and his partner responded to a 911 call about a domestic dispute in an apartment in the city's West Side, home of the teen's father.
The Tribune said that Jones answered the door and led the cops to the site of the disturbance.
LeGrier then came down the stairs with a baseball bat, according to an analysis released in February by State’s Attorney Kim Foxx’s office, which declined to bring charges against Rialmo in the incident.The police started to back up onto the front landing as the teen came toward them with the bat raised over his head, prosecutors wrote. As Rialmo backed down the stairs, he fired, according to prosecutors. He shot eight times, hitting LeGrier six times. Jones had been standing behind him and was shot once in the chest, prosecutors wrote.
LeGrier, who was a Northern Illinois University student, had a history of mental illness with records of violent altercations with students, as well as with law enforcers.
The LeGrier family attorney, Basileios Foutris, referred to the city averting any liability in this case as, "sick” and “twisted.” Foutris said Rialmo should not have been on patrol given his lack of experience. He added, “It’s not enough to kill people. Now you gotta go ahead and sue them.”
Joel Brodsky, who's representing Rialmo, claims that the officer fired in self-defense and that the violent teen's death was justified. But Twitter isn't buying.
There was an update. The outrage may have influenced a change in plans.
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H/T - ChicagoTribune, TheRoot, Twitter