Lawsuit Filed In CTA Shooting Death

By Marcus Gilmer in News on Sep 22, 2010 2:40PM

As differing accounts of this weekend's police-involved shooting on the Red Line emerge, so, too, does a wrongful death lawsuit filed by the victim's mother. Police responded to a call of an armed suspect on board a Red Line train early Saturday morning, boarding the train at the Garfield stop. According to police, the suspect, 19-year-old George Lash, tried to fight with the arresting officers and pointed a gun at them, prompting them to shoot Lash, ultimately killing him. But accounts claiming that Lash was unarmed and handcuffed at the time of the shooting surfaced as well and now Lash's mother has filed suit. From the Tribune:

The lawsuit contended that George Lash, 19, was on a train at the Garfield station when uniformed officers boarded the train, pinned his arms behind his back and handcuffed him. The suit, filed by Carmela Lash-Cross against the city and Police Department, alleged that the officers then shot her son "with utter indifference and conscious disregard."

A Chicago Police spokesperson declined comment on the lawsuit but earlier CPD Supt. Jody Weis defended the officers, saying, "Unfortunately, the events led to a life being lost, but when you try to murder police officers, that's what's going to happen and I'm really glad our officers are safe."