Nevertheless, “upon information and belief, the City of Chicago and Chicago Police Department failed to adequately investigate the shooting of plaintiff or impose any discipline on any of the defendant officers until December 2016, almost two years after the unlawful shooting,” the complaint claims.
The Chicago Police Department has come under intense scrutiny since December 2015 when the release of police dashcam video showed the police execution of teenager Laquan McDonald by a white officer. The video sparked protests and the resignation of Superintendent Garry McCarthy.
A Police Accountability Task Force created by Mayor Rahm Emanuel after the McDonald video went public found that the city’s Independent Police Review Authority, charged with investigating police misconduct, is only nominally independent and almost always finds in favor of the officers – although not in Golatte’s case. Forty percent of the complaints it received were not even investigated over the last five years.
The investigation also found that, although Chicago’s population is evenly split between Blacks, whites and Hispanics, 74 percent of police shootings between 2008 and 2015 were targeted at Blacks, and Black drivers were four times as likely to be searched by police after being stopped, even though contraband was found twice as often on white drivers.
Last month, the U.S. Justice Department released a scathing report finding that major problems with the police department’s training and accountability are to blame for civil rights violations and the erosion of public trust.
The city and the Justice Department reached an agreement in principle to work together toward a consent decree that will addressing deficiencies found in the government’s investigation.
Golatte is represented by Danielle A. Pinkston. He seeks punitive damages for claims of excessive force, malicious prosecution and conspiracy.
The city did not immediately respond Monday to a request for comment.