Associated Press
CHICAGO — Chicago police arrested a man on a murder warrant Wednesday, just moments after he announced he is suing the city over being shot by officers seven times in 2014.
Police arrested 25-year-old Dominiq Greer after a news conference Wednesday at his attorney’s office. He was arrested on suspicion of killing 22-year-old Kevin Larry on May 27 and has not been formally charged.
“We became aware he was holding a press conference for a civil suit against the police department, and the police department doesn’t wait to apprehend people accused of murder,” said Anthony Guglielmi, chief spokesman for the department.
Greer’s attorney, Eugene Hollander, was surprised by the arrest.
“It’s definitely a surprise to me. He was going to grab an Uber back home and as he was waiting a squad car pulled up,” Hollander told the Chicago Sun-Times.
Hollander didn’t return a call from The Associated Press seeking comment on the allegations.
Police say Larry was found shot in the chest after they responded to a report of shots fired at an apartment.
After the killing, the police department issued an “officer safety alert” regarding Greer. The alert, which also referred to Greer by an alias, “Domo,” said he was overheard by witnesses saying he would “not be taken alive.”
Moments before Greer’s arrest, Hollander and Greer had announced the lawsuit, which seeks $15 million over Greer’s July 4, 2014, shooting.
Greer said he had illegally obtained a gun to protect himself following a friend’s 2014 death and had it with him when police approached him and a friend in the early morning hours of July 4.
Greer admits running from police but said he tossed the gun aside before he was shot.
“I thought I was (going to) die,” Greer said Wednesday. “I asked them why they was shooting me like that so many times.”
Greer spent eight days in a hospital.
He was charged with unlawful use of a weapon, a charge that is still pending.
A review of Greer’s case by the Independent Police Review Authority, which investigates police shootings, found the gun fired when Greer tossed it. The review concluded officers reacted to the gunshot by firing at Greer and fired again when they ordered him to raise his hands but he did not.
Greer and Hollander showed a video of the pursuit that they say backs up his claims.
That video was not among others released by Chicago police last week related to scores of excessive-force investigations.
“The mayor said he wants to be transparent,” Hollander said. “Why don’t we put all of the (videos) online?”
Copyright 2016 The Associated Press