In an odd twist, an Englewood man who survived being shot seven times by Chicago police in 2014 was arrested on a murder charge just moments after he announced Wednesday he was suing the city for $15 million, authorities said.
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Greer was arrested on an outstanding warrant from a shooting last month, Chicago Police spokesman Anthony Guglielmi said in a statement that did not mention the lawsuit.
Greer’s attorney, Eugene Hollander, criticized the city for not including the video of Greer’s shooting in the materials the city released just days before related to several investigations into allegations of police brutality.
The federal probe was launched after protests a year ago following the belated release of a 2014 video in which a white police officer shoots a black teenager 16 times, killing him. Officer Kevin Fry said in a deposition that he mistakenly thought Chatman was holding a weapon and chose to fire because the teen turned his body slightly toward Fry’s partner as he ran away.
Greer has been arrested at least 20 times since 2007, mostly for marijuana possession or trespassing charges that were eventually dropped, according to court records. “I feared for my life because I see Chicago police do stuff every day to people”, said Greer. As Greer tries to get up, four officers can be seen coming toward him with weapons drawn. Greer’s shooting was not among the evidence released, however. Greer throws the weapon in the air and that’s when he is shot by police three times.
The lawsuit says Greer fled because he was fearful of being arrested, adding there was no reason for police to fear he would harm them because he was running away. He acknowledged he was carrying a handgun when he was initially stopped by police and ran from the officers because he was afraid of them.
In December, the city released police dashcam video from the fatal shooting of Ronald Johnson, who was shot in an encounter with police Detective George Hernandez. Johnson tried to run from police and was chased by officers.
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Last week, IPRA released video footage, audio clips and other investigative documents from more than 100 incidents -including about 70 police involved-shooting incidents – that are now under investigation. “He can not pick up and hold his son”, Hollander said in a statement. Most of the video and audio captures little of substance of incidents under review. “Why don’t we put all of the (videos) online?”
