CHICAGO (WBBM NEWSRADIO) - A civil jury has found two former Chicago Police officers and the city liable for the death of a 21-year-old man who the officers shot eight years ago.
In 2014, Hector Hernandez was shot 13 times, eight times in the back after police responded to a domestic incident at his girlfriend’s home in the Gage Park neighborhood.
His family’s lawyer, Antonio Romanucci, says he was having a mental crisis and was holding a knife to his neck. He says what Hernandez needed was “help and human compassion, not aggression.”
Police said after the incident that Hernandez was moving toward the officers, Patrick Kelly and Antonio Corral.
The civil jury awarded the Hernandez family nearly $750,000. It found that Hernandez was partly at fault.
One of the officers, Patrick Kelly, had a history of complaints. In 2010, he claimed his friend, Michael LaPorta, shot himself with Kelly’s service weapon after a night of drinking.
LaPorta survived and said Kelly shot him. A federal jury awarded him 44-million dollars, which was later tossed out on appeal.
Listen to WBBM Newsradio live here.
Related
