A $3.5 Million Verdict in a Police-Involved Shooting in Chicago, Illinois, is Reinstated by an Appellate Court
On Tuesday, February 20, 2018, a jury’s $3.5 million verdict against the City of Chicago, Illinois, was reinstated by the Illinois Appellate Court. The verdict was in regard to the death of 19-year-old Niko Husband in 2011, who was allegedly fatally shot by a police officer at a dance party on the South Side. The original verdict had been reversed by Judge Elizabeth Budzinski on a legal technicality; she found in favor of both the police officer who allegedly shot Husband and the City of Chicago, saying the officer was justified in the alleged police-involved shooting because he felt he was in danger of his life. The Appellate Court disagreed and found unanimously that the judge erred.
The alleged fatal shooting occurred in July 2011. The night was stifling hot, and police officers encountered dozens of young people who had been crowded into a storefront for an underground dance party. Partygoers were being patted down, and officers saw that Husband seemed to be in a scuffle with a young woman. According to the officer accused of the shooting, he and two other officers attempted to free the girl from Husband’s grip. In the process, he said he felt a gun tucked in Husband’s waistband and yelled that he had a firearm. He said that he tried to get the gun away from Husband but he feared it would go off and strike someone.
One officer deployed his electronic weapon on Husband, and another allegedly fired his weapon into Husband’s chest three times. Two shots were from approximately 2 feet away. An autopsy found that the gun was pressed directly against Husband’s chest when the third shot was fired.
The officer who allegedly fired the shots that killed Husband was cleared by the police oversight agency in Chicago, and he also received a commendation for valor. Two years after Husband’s death, the same officer was allegedly caught on police dashcam video firing a dozen shots at a car with unarmed teenagers inside. In November 2017, the officer was sentenced to 5 years, which he is currently serving at a low-security federal prison. He is up for supervised release in May 2022.
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–Guest Contributor
smchugh
smchugh