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Chicago resident Ortiz Glaze says he was unarmed when two police officers shot at him 10 times, hitting him in the back, at a cookout on the south side of the city. Police recovered a silver cellphone, claiming that Glaze made threatening movements while holding what appeared to look like a silver firearm. In a lawsuit filed in federal court, Glaze claims cops planted the cellphone among his possessions after the shooting. Details via the Chicago Sun-Times:
On April 30, 2013, Glaze manned the grill during a cookout to honor a deceased friend near 88th and South Burley, the lawsuit said. People began arriving around 3 p.m., it said, and a group of police officers arrived in three squad cars around 9 p.m. The police union said at the time the tactical officers on routine patrol stopped when they passed a group of known gang members there. The lawsuit contends one of those officers got out of a squad car and fired a gun — possibly as a warning shot. Glaze and other startled people in the crowd ran away, it said. The officer who fired the warning shot chased Glaze, the lawsuit said, firing at him multiple times. A second officer allegedly fired at him, as well. In all, 10 bullets were fired at Glaze, according to the lawsuit.
The Fraternal Order of Police (FOP), naturally, jumped to the officers' defenses after the shooting. A spokesperson for the FOP reportedly asked why Glaze would run from cops, and insisted that if a cop thinks he sees a gun, he won't take a chance that it's not. That attitude is prevalent among police forces, yet it's difficult to believe it would pass muster as a defense for a shooter that hadn't been awarded a government badge and gun.
Over the last decade the city of Chicago has spent an average of $1 million a week resolving police-related lawsuits.
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