ACCOUNTABILITY

Federal Lawsuit Filed on Behalf of 13-Year-Old Paralyzed by Chicago Cop

The 13-year-old was shot in a parking lot gas station. Attorneys for the family argue the cop shouldn’t have been there in the first place.

Civil rights attorneys have refiled a federal lawsuit on behalf of a 13-year-old who was left paralyzed from the waist down after a Chicago police officer shot him in the parking lot of a gas station earlier this year, claiming he mistook the teen’s phone for a gun. The teen was shot after Officer Noah Ball, who thought him to be a passenger in a stolen car, chased him after he got out of the car, The Daily Beast previous reported. The lawsuit questions the cop’s claims he shot the teen in self defense, with the teen’s lawyers claiming the teen was unarmed. “In his report, the officer said he was shot at first and he fired back in self-defense,” attorney Brian Eldridge said. “I can tell you from my viewing of the video, I hear one gunshot.” Lawyers for the teen are also arguing the cop shouldn’t have been patrolling the area to begin with, and pointed to his involvement in another shooting in June 2021, which is still under investigation. “If the city is not going to hold its officers accountable, then the civil justice system will,” Eldridge said.

ALL THE ANGLES?

Missing Footage Fuels Questions About Shooting of Black Teen

Eileen Grench