Chicago Indymedia : http://chicago.indymedia.org/archive
Chicago Indymedia

LOCAL News :: Crime & Police

INDY MEDIA EXCLUSIVE: Federal Jury Finds Cops Planted Gun to Justify Shooting

City of Chicago to pay $5.25 Million to victim's family.
2 tammyware.jpg
ammy Ware, mother of Cornelius Ware, who was shot and killed by Chicago police.
1 tammyware.jpg
Ms. Ware with one of her attorneys, Mark Loevy-Reyes.
CHICAGO, Ill. – After a federal jury found a Chicago police officer liable late Friday of wrongfully shooting and killing a 20-year-old paraplegic man in a traffic stop, attorneys for the City of Chicago avoided further litigation Sunday by accepting a $5.25 million out of court settlement with the victim's family. The penalty phase in the trial was to have begun this week in the federal courtroom of Judge Joan Lefkow.

Three eyewitnesses testified that Officer Anthony Blake shot an unarmed Cornelius Ware in the back in August 2003 while the latter had his hands in the air, surrendering. During a traffic stop, Ware had brought his car to a halt in front of his family residence in the 8400 block of South Loomis. Police surrounded the vehicle and shouted at the paraplegic Ware to step outside of the car. Family members rushing out of their house yelled that Ware was paralyzed and thus couldn't do as he was told, but then police shot him six times. Ware died 18 days later.

Jon Loevy, Ware's family attorney, accused Chicago police of planting a gun in the car to cover up their wrongful shooting. The jury decided that four police officers lied when they claimed Ware pointed a gun at cops. There were no prints or blood found on the gun Ware allegedly pointed, even though he shot was in both hands. A paramedic who treated Ware testified that he did not see a gun near the critically injured man.

Within 12 hours of the August 2003 shooting, the Chicago Police Department reached a determination that the shooting was justified and issued a press release to that effect, blaming the victim. Most mainstream press reports gullibly repeated the CPD's account while discounting or completely ignoring the directly contradictory accounts given by civilian witnesses.

Recent data have shown that Chicago police shoot and kill civilians at a far higher rate than police in other major cities. In the year 2004, for example, Chicago police shot more people than police in New York, a city three times as populous.

Ware is survived by his mother, Tammy Faye Grant, and his younger brothers and sisters.

+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

Dept of Full Disclosure: The author of this article is employed by Loevy and Loevy
 
 

Donate

Views

Account Login

Media Centers

 

This site made manifest by dadaIMC software