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Thursday, March 28, 2024 | Back issues
Courthouse News Service Courthouse News Service

Chicago Sued Days After Teen’s Fatal Shooting

CHICAGO (CN) - The Chicago Police Department wrongfully detained a Chicago father after shooting and killing his 19-year-old son, he claims in a lawsuit filed just two days after his son died.

Chicago police officers responded to a domestic disturbance call at Antonio LeGrier's apartment on the city's west side around 4:30 a.m. on Dec. 26, according to the Chicago Tribune. LeGrier reportedly called the police after his son Quintonio, who had been battling mental illness, threatened him with a baseball bat.

The lawsuit says Quintonio, who was home for Christmas break from Northern Illinois University, "was shot by an on duty Chicago police officer multiple times" from outside the building where he lived. He "never had possession or control of a weapon" and "never posed a danger or threat of harm to any Chicago police officer," the complaint states.

"He fell and lay bleeding," according to the complaint, and LeGrier "found his son still alive" inside the building.

LeGrier claims that police "did not do anything to try to provide the decedent with medical care" before he died.

"I thought that we were supposed to get service and protection," Quintonio's mother Janet Cooksey told the Tribune. "What are they trained for? Just to kill?"

The LeGriers' downstairs neighbor, Bettie Jones, a 55-year-old mother of five, was also accidentally shot and killed by police officers during the incident.

"The 55-year-old female victim was accidentally struck and tragically killed. The department extends its deepest condolences to the victim's family and friends," the police department said in a statement.

According to the Dec. 28 lawsuit, LeGrier was "was not given a choice regarding leaving the scene and going to the police department," which separated him "from his dying son and family."

Once at the station, he says he "was not allowed to leave until he gave statements to Chicago police detectives and to investigators of the Independent Police Review Authority." The complaint alleges that police have already confiscated video recordings of the incident.

LeGrier is represented by Basileios Foutris, who did not return a request for comment from Courthouse News. He is suing the City of Chicago for at least $50,000 for wrongful death and false arrest.

The Chicago Police Department did not respond to an emailed request for comment.

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