Chicago police officers pack courtroom at hearing for suspect in shooting of Officer Danny Golden

ByJessica D'Onofrio and Christian Piekos WLS logo
Thursday, November 3, 2022
Chicago police officers pack courtroom at hearing for suspect in shooting of Officer Danny Golden
Injured Chicago Police Officer Danny Golden was escorted home in a massive police convoy that stretched from downtown to the South Side.

CHICAGO (WLS) -- The family and friends of Chicago Police Officer Danny Golden, who was left paralyzed from the waist down while trying to break up a fight outside a bar over the summer in the Far South Side, go a legal victory Thursday.

A judge ruled that one of the men charged in that shooting will have to stay in jail while he awaits trial.

"The strength and the determination and the resolve of Danny Golden is unbelievable," said Alderman Matt O'Shea, 19th Ward.

Officer Golden was flanked by loved ones as he entered the Cook County Courthouse Thursday. They were there as Bryant Hayes, one of the three men charged with allegedly shooting the off-duty officer, attempted to appeal his no bond status and to ask a judge for pre-trial release.

Scores of Chicago police officers flooded the courthouse to support Officer Golden after prosecutors said he tried to break up a fight between the three men charged and another group in early July.

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"The fact of the matter is, in this horrible situation, Danny Golden was a peacemaker. Danny Golden was trying to get a group of people away - ending the disturbance, breaking up the fight. These three cowards went and got a gun," Ald. O'Shea said.

Prosecutors said one of the co-defendants passed a gun to Hayes, who then allegedly fired at Golden and other witnesses, striking the off-duty officer in the back.

Hayes faces attempted murder and aggravated battery charges.

"We are sick and tired of gun offenders wreaking havoc with our city," Ald. O'Shea said.

Hayes' defense attorney argued that her client was attacked and being chased, adding that this information was not previously given to the judge.

However, the judge ruled there was still no lawful justification for the shooting and highlighted evidence that the fight was over.

"This could have been avoided if they just went on their way," Ald. O'Shea added.

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The judge ruled that Bryant's no bond status will remain.

Ald. O'Shea praised the judge for the ruling and said an army of officers will be back at every at every court date in support of the Golden family.

"They are bound and determined to see this through to the end," Ald. O'Shea said.

Hayes and the other two co-defendants are back in court on December 12.