A Chicago civil rights attorney, whose firm is litigating three lawsuits regarding separate police shootings in Zion, says a federal investigation should be initiated into the Police Department’s policies involving use of force, especially against black people.
“Zion should be investigated by the Department of Justice. There’s a clear pattern and practice by the police (of) using unjustified, excessive and lethal force,” Chicago attorney Andrew M. Stroth said this week.
Within the past two years, Zion police have been involved in the shooting deaths of Justus Howell and Charles Hollstein and the shooting of Devon Davidson.
Zion police officials declined to comment on the cases this week, citing the litigation. Zion Mayor Al Hill said Wednesday he is also unable to discuss the lawsuits.
Both Howell and Hollstein died after being shot in April 2015 and January 2016, respectively. Davidson, who was shot the night of July 26, 2016, has since resolved the criminal case against him through a plea deal in Lake County Circuit Court. Police officials have previously described Davidson’s wound from a 2016 shooting as “superficial” and said that he was treated and released from the hospital.
The civil rights lawsuits, filed in federal district court in Chicago, name the city of Zion and several individual officers as defendants and claim the city has tacitly allowed police policies that encourage deadly force.
Stroth, managing partner with the Action Injury Law Group, said a police video of the Davidson shooting does not show officers responding to a threat.
“The video completely contradicts the narrative given by the police officer in the police report,” Stroth said. “It clearly shows the use of excessive force. Devon Davidson is lucky to be alive. Thank God no major organ was hit, or Devon Davidson could have been another victim. “
Michael Masters, an executive with the New York-based Soufan Group, a consulting firm whose specialties include best practices in law enforcement policy, procedure and training, said his viewing of the Davidson shooting video led him to believe the training of the officers might not have been optimal.
“In terms of best practices with regard to pursuits and engagement, what I’ve seen in the video is not what best practice would dictate,” Masters said.
Masters, who has served as the chief of staff of the Chicago Police Department and the executive director of the Department of Homeland Security for Cook County, said he came away with the conclusion that there is “an opportunity for improved training, policy and procedures” in Zion.
Stroth said Wednesday that attorneys working on the three cases for his firm have made settlement “demands” to the city, with a time limit, that would include both monetary components and certain reforms within the Police Department.
He did not disclose further details about the proposed settlement.
“Our lawsuits are not just seeking money for the families,” Stroth said, adding that “fundamental reform” of Zion police procedures is also being sought.
“There’s a code of silence in Zion, just like there’s a code of silence in Chicago,” he said.
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Stroth also said that police shootings in the city are disproportionate in terms of numbers and race. Davidson is black, as was Howell, while Hollstein was white.
According to police, Howell, a 17-year-old Waukegan resident, was shot by Zion police April 4, 2015, while he was running through a Zion neighborhood with a gun in his hand and ignoring police orders to stop.
The gun had already been fired once without striking anyone during an altercation over its possession between Howell and a Lindenhurst man before Howell was shot, according to investigators and witnesses.
Stroth said his firm contends Howell was not holding the gun when he was shot.
On Jan. 6, 2016, Zion police fatally shot Hollstein, 38, who authorities said was wearing a homemade tactical-style vest and carrying a BB gun when he struggled with officers after a brief foot chase near a school. Officers initially confronted Hollstein because he was allegedly taking pictures of a school.
Police and prosecutors said Davidson was shot by a Zion officer during the course of a pursuit while he was driving drunk on a license already suspended for a previous DUI charge.
According to police reports, Zion officers attempted to stop Davidson for speeding after 11 p.m. July 26, but Davidson led police on a chase involving multiple squad cars at speeds of up to 65 mph in a 35 mph zone on 27th Street.
During the chase, Davidson’s vehicle was eventually boxed in by police cars in the driveway of his mother’s home in Zion when he allegedly backed his vehicle into a squad car and then turned it in the direction of, “but not directly at,” an officer standing outside his squad car with his gun drawn, according to reports.
The officer then fired, striking Davidson, after which Davidson fled the scene in his car, drove several blocks, made a U-turn and returned to his mother’s 27th Street home, where he was apprehended inside the house, according to prosecutors.
Blood tests at the hospital measured Davidson’s blood alcohol level at 0.20 percent, more than twice the legal limit for driving, officials said.
Davidson pleaded guilty in December to aggravated DUI related to the incident in which he was shot and was sentenced to 13 months in prison to be served at 50 percent.
He was given credit toward that sentence for the 141 days he spent in the Lake County Jail.
In exchange, prosecutors dismissed charges of aggravated fleeing and eluding and possession of cannabis with intent to deliver.
His defense attorney, James Schwarzbach, had been studying ballistics evidence related to the shooting in preparation for trial before the plea deal.
After having gone over the case with Davidson and viewing the video recording of the shooting, Schwarzbach said Davidson was “lucky” he was not more seriously wounded.
“He was fortunate it did not invade his chest cavity and strike vital organs,” Schwarzbach said.
Following separate investigations of each of the three cases by the Lake County Major Crimes Task Force, State’s Attorney Michael Nerheim, after reviewing the task force reports and viewing available video footage, determined in each case that no charges would be brought against the officers involved.
Nerheim said his review of the evidence led him to the conclusion that the officers involved in the shootings had not committed a crime, which is the measure used in determining whether charges would be filed.
Masters said that, in general, not specifically in Zion, if police do not have a command of accepted best practices and tragedies do occur, the results affect and are unfair to the officers themselves, the individuals involved and their families, and the community as a whole.
“The officers have to deal with it every day for the rest of their lives, and so do the individuals (involved),” he said.
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