29-year-old Male Shot and Killed by Chicago Police Department Officer
Type of Injury: Death
Type of Case: Settlement
Settlement Amount: $4,100,000
In the early morning hours of June 7, 2011, CPD Officer ("Ofc.") Gildardo Sierra and his partner responded to an alleged domestic battery in the Englewood neighborhood. Upon their arrival, Ofc. Sierra contended he observed the alleged offender, M-29, flee on foot from the location; no weapon was observed on Plaintiff’s person or in his hands. Ofc. Sierra caught up with Plaintiff near a vacate lot at 6230 S. Wolcott when Ofc. Sierra told Plaintiff the following: “Stop, Police, or I’ll Shoot.”
Ofc. Sierra alleged that he shot and killed M-29 on June 7, 2011 while he was “in reasonable fear for his life.” Ofc. Sierra alleged that when directed to stop running, Plaintiff turned toward Ofc. Sierra, removed a dark object from his right pants pocket and pointed it at Ofc. Sierra as it were a gun, than began to run towards Ofc. Sierra.
A dash-mounted, on-board video from a CPD squad car captured video showing “the scene from the perspective of 724R as it approaches the scene and travels south on Wolcott. P.O Sierra is scene[sic] at the curb line of 6230 S. Wolcott where he is discharging his weapon multiple times...” Ofc. Sierra fired 16 rounds from his Sig Sauer, P226, 9mm semi-automatic handgun at Plaintiff. The last three shots were captured on the video, while Plaintiff was laying on his left side in the fetal position. Plaintiff was shot seven (7) times by Ofc. Sierra. The video does not depict Plaintiff running at or toward Ofc. Sierra.
Plaintiff was pronounced dead at the scene. No weapon was found of Plaintiff’s person or in the vicinity. A cell phone was found near Plaintiff’s body. There are no known witnesses to this shooting.
Following this shooting, on September 30, 2011, CPD Superintendant Garry F. McCarthy told the Chicago Tribune editorial board the following: “I’m not gonna defend indefensible behavior, and don’t expect me to. And that’s why we had this issue of so many police-related shootings. There’s probably only one of them that I think is a big problem, and that guy is going to be prosecuted, I’m sure. He’s gonna be tortured down the road. And it’s something that we systematically screwed upon because it’s the fourth shooting this officer has been in, um, I don’t know, in a very short time frame. There were three -- the first three were combat situations, and it’s very -- he's very fortunate to be alive. He shouldn’t have been where he was. We should have had him off the street so that he’s not in a particular environment and that problematic of a scenario.”
Prior to the shooting involving Plaintiff, in the year 2011 alone, Ofc. Sierra was involved in three (3) prior police-related shootings; one or more of these were under review by the City of Chicago Independent Police Review Authority (“IPRA”) at the time of the subject shooting.
Injuries: According to the Report of Postmortem Examination (Case No. 115 June 2011) conducted by Mitra B. Kalelkar, MD of the Office of the Cook County Medical Examiner, Flint Farmer suffered extensive external and internal injuries. Specifically, Dr. Kalelkar identified the following gunshot wounds:
Gunshot wound #1 – The entrance wound is located on the left anterior abdominal wall, 24 inches below the top of the head, and 2.5 inches to the left of the anterior midline. This bullet perforates the skin and muscles of the area, perforates the two loops of the small intestines and exits from the left buttock where there is a lacerated wound located 27 inches below the top of the head and 4 inches to the left of the posterior midline;
Gunshot wound #2 – The bullet entered the left anterior thigh, 25 inches above the left heel. The exit wound is located 22 inches above the left heel and on the posterolateral aspect of the left thigh;
Gunshot wounds #3 and 4 – The entrance wounds are located on the left upper back, 8 inches below the top of the head and 2 inches to the left of the posterior midline. These two entrance wounds are in close proximity and practically the same course through the body. The bullets perforate the 1st and 2nd rib, the upper lobe, the hilum, and lower lobes of the left lung, the heart, the diaphragm and finally, two medium caliber copper- jacketed lead bullets are recovered from the left anterior abdominal wall. These wounds course downward directly.
Gunshot wound #5 – The bullet enters the left upper back, 9 inches below the top of the head and 1.5 inches to the left of the posterior midline. This bullet perforates the skin and muscles of the area, fractures the 3rd left rib posteriorly, upper lobe, the hilum and the lower lobe of the left lung, the arch of the aorta and the heart, the diaphragm, the left lobe of the liver and the stomach, and finally fractures the iliac crest. Finally, a deformed medium caliber copper-jacketed lead bullet is recovered from the left anterior abdominal wall. This wound course is downward directly.
Gunshot wound #6 – The bullet enters the back of the right hand at the web space between the thumb and index fingers. The bullet perforates the skin and muscles of the area and exits from the front of the right wrist.
Gunshot wound #7 – This is a graze wound of the left upper back. The wound course is downwards. Based on her review of the video and the post-mortem examination, Dr. Kalelkar opined that the video depicts gunshot wound Nos. 3, 4, and 5 being shot into Farmer’s body. Dr. Kalelkar believed these were the injuries that resulted in his death.
The above summary is specific to a particular case and is not intended as a projected outcome on any other matter.