By Maudlyne Ihejirika
The Chicago Sun-Times
COOK COUNTY, Ill. — In one of the largest awards ever in a Chicago Police shooting, a Cook County jury Thursday said the city must pay $12 million to the family of a 23-year-old unarmed man whose death was caught on a CTA station security video now heavily viewed on YouTube.
That tops the 2003 award of $9.6 million in the police shooting of Northwestern University student Robert Russ, but is less than the 2001 settlement of $18 million the city reached with the family of police shooting victim LaTanya Haggerty.
The case was significant in that both the city and Police Officer Alvin Weems admitted the March 8, 2003, shooting of Michael Pleasance at the CTA Red Line’s 95th Street station — as Weems tried to break up a fight that had Pleasance as a mere bystander — was unjustified.
“We’re disappointed with the amount of the verdict,” said city Law Department spokeswoman Jenny Hoyle. “We believe it’s excessive.”
The huge verdict comes down at a time when excessive force and misconduct by Chicago Police officers are under a microscope.
The city is attempting to close an ugly chapter in the Police Department’s history with a $19.8 million settlement — now on hold — to be shared among four former Death Row inmates in the Jon Burge police torture cases. And recently named top cop Jody Weis has inherited a department under fire for shielding and failing to discipline officers who commit atrocities.
In fact, a recent Chicago Sun-Times investigation found that 25 lawsuits stemming from shootings cost taxpayers $27 million between 2002 and 2007, and none of those shootings led to an officer’s firing or a suspension of a year or more.
That included the Pleasance shooting, in which the Office of Professional Standards recommended Weems’ firing, but former police Supt. Phil Cline only suspended him for 30 days — then promoted him to detective.
Pleasance’s mother, Pamela Pleasance, said the verdict meant nothing to her. “My child had to die for it,” the 59-year-old single mother said through tears.
In her son’s case, attorneys for the city did not want the jury to see the security tape. The video shows a civilian-dressed Weems arriving at the L platform with gun drawn. It shows Weems pulling Pleasance’s friend out of the fight, and Pleasance off to Weems’ side, pointing toward the fight and trying to tell Weems something. Then it shows Weems raising his hand and firing into Pleasance’s face, killing him.
The department originally said Pleasance struggled with Weems for his gun. But after the family sued and a judge ordered release of the video, the department revised its story. Later, in a deposition, Weems also admitted, “It wasn’t justified.”
Pleasance’s family had sought $32 million. The city had offered $1 million, trying during the trial to convince jurors of the victim’s limited potential. He was learning-disabled, dropped out of high school and did time in prison for drugs.
“It was hard sitting there listening to them because he was not the kind of person the city was trying to make him out to be,” Pleasance’s mother said.
Copyright 2007 Chicago Sun-Times