Prosecutors pass on charging Chicago cop who fatally shot 2

Cook County prosecutors passed on criminal charges Friday against a Chicago police officer who fatally shot a baseball-bat wielding teen and mistakenly killed the teen's neighbor, citing insufficient evidence that the officer didn't act in self-defense.The...

Prosecutors pass on charging Chicago cop who fatally shot 2

Cook County prosecutors passed on criminal charges Friday against a Chicago police officer who fatally shot a baseball-bat wielding teen and mistakenly killed the teen's neighbor, citing insufficient evidence that the officer didn't act in self-defense.

The shooting deaths of Quintonio LeGrier, 19, and his neighbor, Bettie Jones, 55, on the day after Christmas 2015 came amid the deepening scandal over the release of the Laquan McDonald shooting video and highlighted the Police Department's failures in dealing with mentally disturbed individuals.

But in a statement issued Friday afternoon, the state's attorney's office said no criminal charges would be brought against Officer Robert Rialmo, saying it could not be proved beyond a reasonable doubt that the officer didn't believe he or his partner were in "imminent danger" of great bodily harm from LeGrier.

Rialmo also could not be charged in Jones' death because, under Illinois law, a person acting in self-defense is not criminally liable if a bystander is accidentally killed, the office said.

PDF: Full text of report into fatal shooting of Quintonio LeGrier and Bettie Jones Investigtion into fatal shooting of Quintonio LeGrier and Bettie Jones (PDF) Investigtion into fatal shooting of Quintonio LeGrier and Bettie Jones (Text) Investigtion into fatal shooting of Quintonio LeGrier and Bettie Jones (PDF) Investigtion into fatal shooting of Quintonio LeGrier and Bettie Jones (Text)Read the story

The families of Jones and LeGrier blasted the decision, claiming at least one witness, a next-door neighbor, saw Rialmo fire his gun when he was on the sidewalk about 14 feet from where LeGrier was standing with the bat.

The neighbor's account is supported by physical evidence showing the shell casings from Rialmo's handgun landed on the sidewalk, attorney Larry Rogers Jr., who represents Jones' family in a lawsuit, said in a news conference Friday at his Loop office.

"There is absolutely no justification for the use of excessive force in that instance," said Rogers, flanked by three of Jones' daughters. "Bettie Jones was at her home. She was in her house. She was doing everything right that day. ... To suggest this is a justifiable shooting is to ignore the objective evidence."

Meanwhile, Rialmo's attorney, Joel Brodsky, posted a lengthy statement from the officer expressing sorrow for what had happened but also defending his actions.

"I have always known in my heart that I did not do anything wrong," Rialmo was quoted as saying in the statement. "I wish that Mr. LeGrier would have been able to get help and treatment for his mental illness, and that the situation did not escalate to the point where I had no choice but to use deadly force."

Rialmo also said he doesn't expect the families of those he killed to forgive him or understand what he did.

"Being right does not make it any less of a tragedy that two people are dead and I was the cause of their deaths," he said. "I will have to live with that for the rest of my life."

The shooting occurred about 4:30 a.m. Dec. 26, 2015, as Rialmo and his partner were responding to four 911 calls — three by LeGrier and one by his father — of a domestic disturbance at the father's second-floor apartment in the 4700 block of West Erie Street. LeGrier, a sophomore at Northern Illinois University, was staying with his father during winter break.

Jones, the downstairs neighbor, answered the door and pointed the officers to LeGrier's apartment. Before the officers could act, LeGrier came down the stairs and stepped between Jones and Rialmo wielding an aluminum baseball bat, the state's attorney's office said. The officers began to back up onto the front landing as LeGrier was moving toward them with the bat gripped in both hands over his head.

"As the officers walked backward down the stairs, Rialmo's partner tapped Rialmo on his back and told him to look out," the state's attorney's office wrote in a four-page legal memorandum supporting its decision. "Rialmo drew his service weapon and fired eight shots toward LeGrier while backing down the front staircase."

LeGrier was shot six times and fell in the vestibule. Jones, who had been standing behind him, was shot once in the chest.

The decision to pass on charging Rialmo was not made by State's Attorney Kim Foxx, who recused herself from the investigation because her previous employer — the Chicago law firm of Power, Rogers & Smith — represents Jones' family in its pending lawsuit, according to Foxx's office.

When her work for the firm was mentioned in September during the campaign, though, Foxx said she saw no conflict of interest if she was elected state's attorney.

Still, it is among the first decisions Foxx's new administration has had to make on a police shooting. Foxx unseated incumbent Anita Alvarez after heavily criticizing her handling of the police shooting of 17-year-old Laquan McDonald.

In a scathing report last month, the U.S. Department of Justice said the LeGrier and Jones incident "laid bare failures in CPD's crisis response systems," from the dispatchers who didn't recognize that LeGrier might be mentally ill to Rialmo and his partner who did not use crisis intervention techniques.

"The officers made tactical errors that resulted in the shooting death of a bystander who had simply opened her door," the report said.

In its review of the Rialmo case, the state's attorney's office said securing a conviction would require proving that the officer did not reasonably believe he or his partner were in imminent danger. A baseball bat can be considered a deadly weapon, it said.

"The uncontroverted evidence from the investigation into the shooting establishes that LeGrier was armed with an aluminum baseball bat when the officers encountered him and LeGrier wielded the bat in a threatening manner while in their close proximity," the state's attorney's office statement said.

The memorandum noted, however, that the state's attorney office's decision does not hinder disciplinary investigations or lawsuits by the families of LeGrier and Jones, both of which have lower standards of proof.

At the families' joint news conference Friday, LeGrier's mother, Janet Cooksey, said she couldn't understand why Rialmo wasn't charged.

"Quintonio did the right thing. He called for help," she said softly. "He called for help not one time, not two, but three (times). He called for help to get shot ... and yet this cop is not going to jail?"

LeGrier's father, Antonio, said he was "appalled" at the decision, calling it "totally unacceptable."

"It's total unfair that Mr. (Rialmo) gets to walk around free and clear (and) possibly harm someone else's family member or someone else's child or someone else that is innocent," he said.

Rialmo's future with the department remains uncertain, though. He remains on desk duty as the Independent Police Review Authority continues to investigate the shooting. His case is an early test of a Police Department and officer oversight system that have undergone constant upheaval in the 14 months since the video of McDonald's shooting spurred promises of reform.

Even as the investigation continued into the LeGrier and Jones shooting, Rialmo and his handling by the Police Department have repeatedly generated controversy.

The officer last year took the rare step of suing the city, claiming he shot the two in part because he was inadequately trained.

Rialmo was supposed to be on indefinite desk duty pending IPRA completing its investigation of the shooting.

But the Tribune revealed in November that the department — despite the ongoing investigation and Rialmo's allegation that he was badly trained — had returned him to the street for several months over the summer and fall, detailing him to a citywide unit that intervened in potentially violent situations.

jgorner@chicagotribune.com

dhinkel@chicagotribune.com

jmeisner@chicagotribune.com

Our editors found this article on this site using Google and regenerated it for our readers.

NEXT NEWS