Woman suing city, CPD officers after murder charges dropped against her and son in deadly shooting
CHICAGO (CBS) -- A woman is suing the city of Chicago and several police officers, after she and her teenage son were arrested in a deadly shooting, only to have the murder charges dropped days later.
Carlishia Hood, 35, and her 14-year-old son had been charged with first-degree murder in the slaying of 32-year-old Jeremy Brown on June 18 at the Maxwell Street Express located in the 11600 block of South Halsted Street. Hood, who was a valid FOID card and concealed carry license holder at the time of the incident, was also charged with contributing to the delinquency of a minor.
All charges against both Hood and her son were dropped on Monday, and they were released from custody.
On Tuesday, Hood filed a lawsuit in Cook County Circuit Court against the city of Chicago and the officers who arrested her, accusing them of malicious prosecution, false arrest, and intentional infliction of emotional distress.
"My life changed. My son's life changed. I've experienced pain in many ways that I would never have thought," Hood said of their arrest. "What happened to me was totally unnecessary. Never in a million years would I have imagined being brutally attacked, beaten, and being arrested."
Hood and her attorneys thanked Cook County State's Attorney Kim Foxx for having the charges against her dropped. On Monday, Foxx's office said the decision was "based upon our continued review and in light of emerging evidence."
"Based upon the facts, evidence, and the law we are unable to meet our burden of proof in the prosecution of these cases," Foxx's office added.
Although prosecutors did not point to any specific evidence, the decision to drop the charges came after video came to light showing Brown punching Hood at least three times before her son shot him.
Prosecutors earlier had acknowledged the shooting was caught on video. According to prosecutors, Hood was in line getting food while her son waited inside their car. Shortly after, Brown entered the restaurant.
Video posted to social media shows Brown shouting at Hood before punching her. Prosecutors have said, during the argument, Hood began texting her 14-year-old son, who was waiting outside in the car.
Surveillance video outside the restaurant shows the teen enter the restaurant, and cell phone video from inside shows Brown punching Hood at least three times in the head and face.
Prosecutors said that's when the teen pulled out a gun from his hoodie and shot Brown in the back. Brown fled the restaurant, but the teen followed him outside. He fired more shots after Hood told him to shoot and kill Brown, prosecutors said.
Brown was shot twice in the back and later died from his injuries. It's unclear why prosecutors decided to charge Hood and her son with murder in the shooting when the prosecution's own account of the shooting noted Brown had punched Hood before her son shot Brown.
Hood's attorney, Brandon Brown, called the decision to arrest her and her son "an obvious rush to judgment."
"You don't have to be a lawyer to appreciate and recognize that when a woman is violently attacked by a man – an unarmed woman – that she shouldn't be arrested," Brown said. "And if any one of you were to replace Carlishia Hood with your mother, with your sister, with your daughter; if your mother, or sister, or daughter were attacked in a restaurant when she's trying to order a cheeseburger, would you expect that she would be arrested?"
Hood's attorneys said Brown's attack on her was completely unprovoked.
"She was beaten for nothing," attorney Ari Williams said. "Ms. Hood doesn't even understand how it built up. It was unnecessary. It was a vicious attack for no reason."
Hood said she needs time to heal after being released from jail, and she and her attorneys asked for privacy, noting she not only has received many requests for interviews, but has also gotten threats.
"I just thank God everything was revealed," Hood said. "I am now in the process of healing and putting my family's life back together.
Hood said she is now focused on spending time with her son, and getting him the help he needs after their ordeal.
"I just need a little time to heal and spend a little time with my baby," she said.
Brown said additional lawsuits could be coming in the future, although he declined to say who might be named as defendants.
"You have the right to use deadly force to stop that force against another person, and that's exactly what happened in this case, and that's exactly why the state's attorney's office dropped this case today," Miller said. "This goes beyond an injustice. Frankly, it's a miscarriage of justice as to what happened to this woman and her son. It's a situation where either the charges should have been rejected, or at the very minimum they should have been continued for investigation, rather than just, you know, say, 'Okay, murder charge. Send them to court.'"
Police initially released security video from inside the Maxwell Street Express that only showed Hood and her son – the latter with his face blurred as he pulls a gun.
But then, cellphone video, also from inside the Maxwell Street Express, surfaced on social media. The video shows Brown threatening and punching Hood in the head as they stand in line at the short-order eatery – and attacking her into a corner – before her son fired the shot.
"I don't know where the mistake is," Miller said. "I think there're multiple mistakes."
Considering the angle of the security camera inside the restaurant, why did investigations not release the portion of the video showing Brown beating Hood?
In court documents, an assistant state's attorney even stated Brown "punched (Hood) in the head three times" - but never brings up self-defense.
Prosecutors also stated Hood's son "fired additional shots" at Brown, but the portion of the security video they released never shows that.
Why not? Why did it take the video showing Brown attacking Hood for the State's Attorney's office to state they could no longer meet their burden of proof in the case?
"I think the State's Attorney owed a little bit more to the family and to the public as to what happened in this case, why it went this far," said Miller. "It should not have gotten this far."
CBS 2 Political Investigator Dana Kozlov emailed a Cook County State's Attorney's spokeswoman some specific questions about the case – including when prosecutors became aware of the cellphone video, and whether the security camera showed the beating. The spokeswoman did not respond.