Man exits news conference about his lawsuit over police shooting, is arrested for murder
On Wednesday, Dominiq Greer filed a federal lawsuit against Chicago police over a 2014 shooting in which he was hit by seven bullets during a foot chase.
Later the same day, during a news conference in his lawyer’s office, Greer said he has never been accused of a violent crime. However, he has an extensive arrest record for minor trespassing and marijuana offenses; was convicted of domestic battery in 2013 and put on probation; and faces another domestic battery case, reports the Chicago Tribune (reg. req.).
Before the day was over, Greer’s arrest record changed: As Greer left attorney Eugene Hollander’s office, two officers arrived in an unmarked police vehicle and took the 25-year-old into custody. They were arresting Greer on a Cook County murder warrant concerning a fatal Chicago shooting less than two weeks ago, the newspaper recounts. Reported details about that case, which concerns the May 27 homicide of a 22-year-old man, are very minimal and the Tribune story provides no information about Greer’s alleged role.
In discussing his civil case over the 2014 police shooting, Greer admitted he had been carrying a gun, which he tossed before he was shot, and said he ran out of fear of being arrested.
A video from a private security camera shows some of what happened during the July 4, 2014 incident in an alley in the city’s Englewood neighborhood. As Greer stumbles and falls, after trying to toss the gun onto a nearby building roof, he is shot for the first time by police, Hollander said.
An investigation by the Independent Police Review Authority found that Greer’s gun discharged when it hit the ground, to which an officer reacted by firing his own gun, the Tribune reports. Then, when Greer was ordered to raise his hands, he didn’t, so the officer fired six more shots, the IPRA said.
But Hollander and Greer say there was no justification for the police shooting, because Greer posed no threat.
Due to his permanent injuries from the shooting, Greer says he is no longer able to work. He once held a job as a custodian in a government building.
“I’m traumatized. I’m messed up,” he said. “I can’t do nothing no more. I just got problems.”
The Tribune article doesn’t include any comment from the defendants in the lawsuit. In addition to the police department, the city of Chicago is also named.
Greer was charged with unlawful use of a weapon in the July 4, 2014 incident, in a case that has yet to be resolved.
