In a surprise about-face, a City Council committee agreed Wednesday to spend $1 million to compensate the family of an armed, 26-year-old man shot and killed by police in 2019.
Five months ago, an avalanche of opposition from the police union’s staunchest City Council allies forced then-Finance Committee Chair Scott Waguespack to yank the settlement to the mother of Sharell Brown off the agenda to avoid almost certain defeat.
At the time, Ald. Nick Sposato (38th) vowed to do “everything in my power to stop” the settlement to avoid sending a dangerous message to already demoralized Chicago police officers that “you cannot shoot an offender until he pulls the trigger first.”
Ald. Ray Lopez (15th) back then likewise decried the city’s willingness to throw police officers “under the bus” — even when they’re innocent. Ald. Brian Hopkins (2nd) called the shooting of a “five-time convicted felon” who was “armed” with a handgun “completely defensible.”
On Wednesday, the Finance Committee met for the first time under the leadership of Ald. Pat Dowell (3rd). And not only did the stalled settlement sail through — it did so without any real debate.
Sposato said the facts of the fatal shooting “seem awful familiar.” But he did not recall his earlier opposition to the settlement, even though he ultimately voted against it.
During closed-door briefings in January, alderpersons were furious to learn about the settlement 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 on the incident, COPA recommended a 180-day suspension for Lisciandrello, who fired the shots that killed Brown, but only because of the shooting officer’s “failure to completely record the incident” on his body-worn 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.
On Wednesday, Hopkins explained his about-face by pointing to Lisciandrello’s decision to “turn off his body-worn camera.”
“A lot of times, the batteries die or, for whatever reason, it’s not on. But he actually turned it off. That was a fact that I was unaware of when we discussed this last time. That was persuasive to me that settling this, rather than going to trail would be the prudent decision,” Hopkins said.
“Had we gone to trial, that more than likely would have been the key fact. The lawyers convinced me we most likely would have lost at trial. It would be hard to convince a jury that wasn’t some attempt to conceal.”
Sposato said he “got a little confused” about the facts of the case. And though he voted no, he didn’t speak against it because he knew it would pass.
“There’s nothing we can do in this Council anymore because they’ve got all the votes. They’ve got at least 30 people for everything he wants to do,” Sposato said, referring to Mayor Brandon Johnson and his allies.
“I just did a quick ‘no.’ I should have probably been more forceful. But I wasn’t gonna sway anybody in there. You see the make-up of the Council now. They’ve got the numbers for everything.”
The Finance Committee also signed off on three other settlements, two of them tied to allegations of police wrongdoing.
The largest pay-out — for $7.25 million — goes to Arthur Brown, a now-72-year-old man who spent 30 years in prison for an arson fire he did not set after being choked into confessing to the double murder in 1988.
A $400,000 settlement goes to a woman who suffered neck and shoulder injuries that aggravated an earlier condition after the car she was riding in was rear-ended by a Ford F-150 truck driven by a now-retired city employee.
A $550,000 pay-out goes to a man who fell on his face and suffered a seizure after he was chased and tased by a Chicago police officer subsequently stripped of his police powers. The officer, who resigned in January, claimed the Taser “discharged accidentally” according to Deputy Corporation Counsel Victoria Benson. The officer faces “multiple criminal charges” that are still pending, Benson said.
