City Seeking $2.25 Million Settlement In Police Shooting Of Unarmed Autistic Teen Ricardo Hayes; Sgt. Khalil Muhammad Was Suspended 6 Months For Excessive Force
CHICAGO (CBS) -- Chicago taxpayers will soon be on the hook for another $2.25 million to settle claims of excessive force, in the shooting of Ricardo Hayes, an unarmed autistic teenager shot by an off-duty police sergeant in 2017.
Early on Aug. 13, 2017, Sgt. Khalil Muhammad shot Ricardo Hayes, then 18, in the arm and chest on the 11100 block of South Hermosa Avenue in Morgan Park.
In surveillance video from the front porch of the home, Hayes is seen running to the left of the screen. He stops as a vehicle pulls up, and shots ring out moments later.
Hayes, who is developmentally disabled, had a history of sneaking out of his home, according to a detailed account of the incident published by The Intercept.
The Chicago Police Board suspended Muhammad for six months in December 2019, after he admitted to unjustifiably using excessive force. The Civilian Office of Police Accountability had called Muhammad's actions "objectively unreasonable" and initially recommended a 90-day suspension. The police oversight agency later doubled its recommended punishment after meeting with then-police Supt. Eddie Johnson.
On Monday, the City Council Finance Committee will vote on the proposed settlement of Hayes' lawsuit, the latest in a long string of police misconduct claims that have become a near-monthly topic on the panel's agenda.
Muhammad told investigators he was off duty and wearing civilian clothes when he saw a suspicious man, Hayes, near his neighbor's car. The sergeant said he identified himself as an officer and asked Hayes what he was doing, then told him he needed to see his hands. He said Hayes turned toward him, reached back, and started to pull a dark object off his waistband. That's when Muhammad fired his semi-automatic pistol at Hayes, claiming he feared for his life while still in the front seat of his girlfriend's SUV.
Muhammad told the 911 operator he had no choice and he "had to shoot."
The shooting also prompted a whistleblower lawsuit by Sgt. Isaac Lambert, who investigated the shooting, and claimed the department tried to cover up the circumstances.
"I didn't feel as though the shooting the way the department wanted to portray it was correct and accurate," Lambert said last year.
Lambert said his superiors wanted him to approve a final detective report that called Muhammad the victim and Hayes the offender.
He also said his bosses have retaliated, moving him from the coveted detective division to patrol.
"This is the form retaliation takes, that's being transferred out of a job he loved, being a detective, where he had been for nine years, back to the patrol division which is viewed by every as a step backwards," Torreya Hamilton, Lambert's attorney said last year.
Lambert has filed a lawsuit against the department in Cook County Circuit Court. He believes he'll pay a price for taking his employer to court.
"A lot of people are not going to touch me," he said. "They're going to look at me in a different way because a lot of people are afraid to speak up in this department."
Lambert is seeking more than $50,000 in damages.
