Chicago police might have stopped a dayslong “violent rampage” by a crew of armed robbers that included the shooting of Dakotah Earley if officers weren’t hampered by the department’s pursuit policy, according to a federal lawsuit filed by the 24-year-old culinary student.
An hour before Earley was shot three times during an armed robbery in Lincoln Park in May, police had called off the pursuit of a stolen BMW linked to Troy Brownlee, who was eventually charged in Earley’s shooting, attorney Cass Casper said at a news conference Thursday announcing a federal lawsuit against the city, Chicago Police Department and officers involved in the aborted chase. The suit claims the city policy violated Earley’s 14th Amendment right to due process and created a danger to the public by limiting officers’ prerogative to chase criminal suspects.
