Shooting survivor Dakotah Earley sues Lightfoot, CPD; claims pursuit policies failed to stop gunman
CHICAGO (CBS)-- A man who was shot and robbed in Lincoln Park last year is suing the city, Mayor Lori Lightfoot, Police Supt. David Brown, and two unnamed police officers, claiming Chicago Police Department pursuit policies failed to stop the accused gunman's violent crime spree earlier.
Attorneys for Dakotah Earley claim police had numerous chances to arrest and stop 19-year-old Tyshon Brownlee before he shot Earley last May. Brownlee is charged with attempted murder and armed robbery in the attack on Earley.
The lawsuit accuses Lightfoot and Brown of acting with "extreme recklessness" and "deliberate indifference" by enforcing police policies limiting pursuits, "knowing full well that there was a high probability that the policy would chill and hamper rank-and-file officers from engaging in pursuits to stop criminals such as Brownlee and his crew."
Earley, 23, was walking near the corner of Wayne and Webster avenues on May 6, when police and prosecutors say Brownlee robbed him of his cell phone and shot him three times.
The shooting was caught on surveillance video, which shows the man who shot Earley getting out of a white sedan and hiding behind the wall of a building -- peeking around the corner as Earley walked down the street.
As Earley approached the corner, the robber came out of hiding and pointed his gun at him. Earley gave the man his bag, then grabbed for the gun, and both fell to the ground as they struggled over the gun.
A second robber with a gun rushed up; and as Earley was struggling with the first robber, one of them can be heard demanding the passcode to his phone. Then the first robber shot Earley and took his cell phone.
As Earley was lying on the ground, the robber again asked him for his passcode before shooting him a second time. After asking the victim for his passcode again, Earley told him some numbers before screaming in pain, and the robber shot him a third time while he was still lying in the street.
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Earley was critically wounded. He has had several surgeries and spent days in a coma and on life support. Earley also suffered permanent brain injuries, had part of his leg amputated, and lost part of his colon as a result of the shooting, according to his attorneys. He now uses a wheelchair as a result of his injuries.
Brownlee was arrested nine days after the shooting, after police identified him as the one who shot Earley.
Brownlee also is charged with four other armed robberies on May 5 and 6 in Lincoln Park and Lakeview, and Earley's attorneys argue police had ample opportunity to arrest Brownlee before the shooting.
"Most notably, according to our investigation, within one hour before the shooting of Dakotah on May 6, police had contact with OEMC dispatchers, where they were told of the precise whereabouts near Soldier Field, of the stolen BMW that Mr. Brownlee was driving. Indeed, it goes a step further. The police actually started pursuing Mr. Brownlee in the vicinity of Soldier Field. Again, this is one hour before the shooting," attorney Cass Casper said. "For reasons that we believe create the biggest basis for liability, the police called off the pursuit of Mr. Brownlee."
Dakotah Earley Lawsuit by Todd Feurer on Scribd
Prosecutors have said, around 10 p.m. on May 5, about five hours before Earley was shot, Brownlee robbed a woman who was walking on the 1100 block of West Barry Avenue while wearing headphones, stealing her purse, phone, and headphones, and demanding her phone's passcode at gunpoint.
Brownlee then walked across the street and robbed a second woman, who was also walking with her headphones on, and took her phone, and demanded the passcode, prosecutors said. When she gave him the wrong passcode, Brownlee took the headphones off her head, and fled the scene in a stolen white BMW sedan.
About half an hour after those robberies, Brownlee approached a man on the 2900 block of North Racine Avenue, pointed a gun at his chest, and demanded his phone and passcode, telling the victim he would "come back and pop" him if his code did not work. Brownlee later used that victim's debit card at a gas station.
According to the federal lawsuit Earley filed against the city, Lightfoot, and the Chicago Police Department, police officers tracked the stolen BMW that Brownlee was driving to Northerly Island, just east of Soldier Field, around 2 a.m. on May 6, but stopped following it.
About an hour later, Brownlee ambushed Earley, robbed him, and shot him three times, according to the lawsuit.
"In nearly each instance of Brownlee's illegal activities, police declined to take action to stop him, pursue the vehicle he was driving in, or otherwise to act in any way to stop the violent, criminal acts," Earley's lawsuit states. "The Department, as a matter of official police policy, justified its failure to intervene as to Brownlee on the basis of a non-pursuit policy."
"At the time of Earley's shooting, however, the Chicago Police Department was in possession of an enormous amount of factual information that it could have used to apprehend Brownlee and his crew," the lawsuit added. "Despite having the aforementioned facts, the Police Department's non-pursuit policy that it had enacted caused the Police to not stop the BMW, stop Brownlee and his crew, and to protect the citizens of Chicago, including Earley."
As for Earley, his lawyers said he's still recovering from his injuries. He has already had 14 surgeries, and has another one scheduled for early next month.
The Chicago Police Department declined to comment on the lawsuit.
In a statement, Chicago Law Department spokeswoman Kristen Cabanban said, "The Department of Law will review the lawsuit upon service and does not comment on pending litigation."
The mayor's office did not immediately respond to a request for comment.