Lawsuit filed against CPD in Mt. Greenwood fatal police shooting

ByLaura Podesta WLS logo
Wednesday, July 26, 2017
CPD sued for Mt Greenwood fatal police shooting
The fiancee of a man shot and killed by Chicago police during a funeral procession last year filed a lawsuit against the department and two officers involved in the shooting.

CHICAGO (WLS) -- The fiancee of a man shot and killed by Chicago police during a funeral procession last year filed a lawsuit against the department and two officers involved in the shooting.

Joshua Beal's fiancee filed the lawsuit on behalf of herself and the couple's two children. It seeks more than $100,000 in damages. The lawsuit alleges an off-duty Chicago police officer did not adequately identify himself as an officer before fatally shooting Beal.

The 25-year-old man was killed on Nov. 5, 2016, near a Chicago fire station at 111th and Troy streets in the city's Mount Greenwood neighborhood.

Police said an off-duty firefighter got into an argument with people who were driving by the station as part of a funeral procession. The firefighter said they were blocking a fire lane.

That confrontation escalated, to the point where two police officers, one off-duty and the other heading to work in uniform, saw what was happening and engaged.

Police said Beal showed he had a gun. Those officers opened fire, shooting 18 times and killing him. The lawsuit says Beal was shot several times even after he put his gun away.

ABC7 Eyewitness News has not yet received the Chicago Police Department's response to the lawsuit.