Chicago Police Officer Sheldon Thrasher Faces Potential Firing In Fatal 2018 Shooting Of Maurice Granton Jr.
CHICAGO (CBS) -- The Chicago Police Department is moving to fire an officer who fatally shot a 24-year-old man in the back in 2018 in the Bronzeville neighborhood.
Police Supt. David Brown filed disciplinary charges against Officer Sheldon Thrasher on Friday with the Chicago Police Board, accusing him of violating multiple department rules when he shot Maurice Granton Jr. on June 6, 2018, including unlawful or unnecessary use of a weapon, incompetency or inefficiency in the performance of duty, disobeying an order or directive, and bringing discredit to the department.
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Thrasher shot Granton near 47th Street and Prairie Avenue while Granton was trying to climb a fence as he was running away from police. An autopsy determined he died of a gunshot wound to the back, according to the Cook County Medical Examiner's Office.
At the time, police said an earlier video released to the public shows Granton armed with a gun before the chase. The department also distributed a picture of a gun officers recovered at the scene.
However, Granton's family has said he was not armed when he was shot.
"My son was running away. Whatever my son was doing was, he's not a person who would have an armed confrontation with the police. This was not justified use of force," Granton's father, Maurice Granton Sr. said after the Civilian Office of Police Accountability released video of the shooting in July 2018.
According to the disciplinary charges filed against Thrasher, the shooting "was not necessary to prevent death or great bodily harm from an imminent threat" to the officer or anyone else. Thrasher also is accused of failing to activate his body camera until after he had fired his weapon.
Thrasher also is accused of engaging in an "unjustified verbal altercation" with bystanders at the crime scene after he'd shot Thrasher, telling one
Thrasher is also accused of having an "unjustified verbal interaction" with people who gathered around the crime scene right after the shooting.
"You see your homie right there? You see your homie shot? You see your homie? You see your homie shot? Get back. Get back," Thrasher told one person as Granton was lying on the ground, according to the disciplinary charges.
Granton's family filed a wrongful death lawsuit against the city in 2018, a case which is still pending in Cook County Circuit Court.
The family's attorney, Antonio Romanucci, said Maurice's hands were on a fence when he was shot, proving he wasn't holding a gun.
"Maurice did not have a weapon in his hands when he was shot," Romanucci said.
Meantime, Thrasher's first hearing on the disciplinary charges is set for Sept. 9.
