City drops suit against estate of man fatally shot by Chicago police

CHICAGO (WLS) -- The City of Chicago dropped plans to sue the estate of 19-year-old Quintonio LeGrier Friday. LeGrier was shot and killed by a police officer the day after Christmas in 2015.

"I felt like the City of Chicago had reached a new low," said Janet Cooksey, LeGrier's mother.

Officer Robert Rialmo was responding to a 911 call about a domestic disturbance at a residence in West Garfield Park when LeGrier walked outside of the home swinging a baseball bat, police said. LeGrier suffered from mental illness.

The officer fired shots at LeGrier, killing him and his 55-year-old neighbor, Bettie Jones.

The proposed civil lawsuit, filed Thursday, claimed LeGrier was responsible for the shooting of Jones.

"The idea would be if the jury found the city was liable to the Jones' family, the city wanted the LeGrier family to pay Jones instead of the city. That's disgusting," said Basileios Foutris, LeGrier's estate attorney.

Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel said he did not know the law department had plans to sue LeGrier's estate, and called the move "callous" before apologizing to LeGrier's father.

"This was a mistake, it should never have been done in the first place," said Emanuel.

The Mayor's office and law department did not answer questions regarding whether or not Ed Siskel, the city's corporation counsel, signed off on the proposed lawsuit.

"We are constantly evaluating and reevaluating our legal strategies, and we have determines the motion is not the best course of action," said Bill McCaffrey of the City of Chicago Department of Law.