$1M settlement in fatal police shooting stalls in City Council committee
An avalanche of opposition from the police union’s staunchest City Council allies on Tuesday derailed a $1 million settlement that would have compensated the family of an armed, 26-year-old man who was shot and killed by police in 2019.
“The votes aren’t there,” said Ald. Nick Sposato (38th), who has vowed to do “everything in my power to stop” the settlement to the mother of Sharell Brown.
“This wasn’t a Tyre Nichols situation,” Sposato said, referring to the fatal beating in Memphis.
“The guy had a gun pointed at the cop. It was a 10-1 scene. Police officer in distress needs help. Are we gonna start saying to cops, ‘You cannot shoot an offender until he pulls the trigger first? If they hit you, then you can defend yourself ?’ This is bizarro world as far as policing is concerned,” said Sposato.
The Finance Committee had been scheduled to authorize the $1 million settlement at Tuesday’s meeting, setting the stage for the full Council to vote Wednesday.
Instead, Finance Chairman Scott Waguespack (32nd) removed the settlement from Tuesday’s agenda to avoid its defeat.
Asked whether he had the votes, Waguespack texted: “Probably not.”
He added: “I guess there is acceptance of the risk of the larger jury verdict.”
During closed-door briefings last week, alderpersons were furious to learn about the city’s seven-figure plan to settle the wrongful death lawsuit, even though the Civilian Office of Police Accountability did not sustain the family’s allegation that the shooting was “excessive and inappropriate deadly force.”
COPA made that finding after concluding Brown was armed and posed a threat to CPD Officers Robert Rhodes and Joseph Lisciandrello, who stopped him the afternoon of May 11, 2019, because Brown “matched the description of an armed robber.”
In a 2021 summary report of the incident, COPA recommended a 180-day suspension for Lisciandrello, who fired the shots that killed Brown, only because of the shooting officer’s “failure to completely record the incident” on his bodyworn camera. The officer ended up with a five-day suspension.
“COPA cannot determine whether [Brown] reasonably appeared to present an imminent risk of great bodily harm to Officer Lisciandrello and whether deadly force was reasonably necessary to eliminate the threat. Therefore, there is insufficient evidence to prove, by a preponderance of the evidence, that Officer Lisciandrello violated department policy,” the report states.
During last week’s briefings, city attorneys justified the $1 million settlement, calling it “fiscally prudent” to avoid a trial that would have required the city to “bring in 15 or 20 people for depositions.”
Alderpersons didn’t buy that argument. Ald. Brian Hopkins (2nd) called the shooting “completely defensible.”
No such controversy surrounds an $800,000 settlement to the family of a man who was struck and killed by a city employee at O’Hare Airport while standing in a median on his way into a terminal.
The family’s lawsuit accuses the city of failing to repair the tow truck’s defective braking system and both the city and the driver of allowing the defective truck to be driven.