Federal prosecutors have abruptly dropped charges against three men accused of robbing undercover agents during a gun transaction in Country Club Hills — which ended with two suspects being shot — after videos surfaced that allegedly called the account of law enforcement into question.
Hours later, an attorney for one of the people who was shot, Demond Edwards, filed a lawsuit in Cook County on Thursday against the city and “unknown federal agents” in connection with the June 9 shooting. The suit alleges the officer who fired the shot was detailed to the investigation from the Chicago Police Department, and that he shot Edwards even though he knew he was unarmed.
The video, recorded by someone in a nearby home, depicts a man — Edwards — and a police officer wrestling in the street as the officer attempted to place him under arrest, according to the video provided by Edwards’ attorney, Basileios “Bill” Foutris.
After about 20 seconds, the video — which does not contain sound — shows Edwards break free and rise to his feet.
The officer, while still sitting on the pavement, then fired what appeared to be a single shot at the man from a few feet away. The man immediately collapsed next to an SUV parked nearby. About two minutes later, two local police cars arrived, soon followed by another, unmarked police vehicle.
The criminal complaint filed against Edwards and his co-defendants two days later, which was sworn out by an FBI agent, alleged Edwards had struck the officer “multiple times about his face and body” with his fists before the officer fired.
No such punches could be seen on the video.
While the dismissal of the federal charges may be only temporary, it adds more fuel to the crisis surrounding the U.S. attorney’s office since the meltdown last month of the “Broadview Six” case that has led to calls for sanctions and for U.S. Attorney Andrew Boutros to resign.
In making the unusual move to dismiss the Country Club Hills complaint, prosecutors in a court filing Wednesday made repeated vague references to the “Front Office,” including how the front office became aware of new video of the incident and what actions were taken once they were disclosed.
That prompted U.S. Magistrate Judge Keri Holleb Hotaling to order someone from the U.S. attorney’s office’s “front office” to appear in court to explain what was going on, which she said she’d never seen in her relatively limited years on the bench.
First Assistant U.S. Attorney Jason Yonan did so Thursday, explaining that he and his boss, Boutros, only learned of the video at an unrelated anti-violence seminar on Friday. According to a transcript of the hearing posted on the court docket, Yonan told the judge they were not aware that the prosecutors handling the case had not seen the footage at the time the criminal complaint was sworn out.
“We need to work through that because that was a problem and that obviously, if they had the video, I think a lot of these issues, hopefully, would have been solved,” Yonan said. “But they didn’t have the video. And so that’s — that’s the problem.”
In response, Hotaling referenced the controversy at Yonan’s office, noting “there is and always had been a presumption of regularity” that the government was being honest in its presentations to the court.
“This court is very concerned that I cannot rely on the information that is provided to me either from the U.S. attorney’s office or from agents that I’m — when I’m swearing out an affidavit now, right?” Hotaling said at Thursday’s hearing, according to the transcript.
Prosecutors insisted that they were not acting in bad faith, but rather reacting to new information that continued to come in from a very tense situation involving multiple law enforcement agencies.
Boutros said in a statement Thursday the facts of the case were “fluid and developing” and that “more facts will be forthcoming.”
“Our decision to dismiss the complaint (Thursday) should not be read at all as a retreat of this case or the events giving rise to charges,” Boutros said.
Over the objections of the defense, Hotaling agreed to dismiss the complaint without prejudice, meaning charges could be refiled at a later date. In the interim, she set a date of July 2 to consider any potential sanctions against the U.S. attorney’s office for how it handled the initial case.
“These are serious things,” Hotaling said. “I don’t want to be saying an FBI agent acted in bad faith or made material misrepresentations. I want to understand the actual facts and understand all of that before I would make any type of finding such as that.”
At least three agencies have pending investigations into the shooting, including the Illinois State Police, the Cook County state’s attorney’s office, and the Civilian Office of Police Accountability, which oversees shootings involving Chicago police officers, prosecutors said in a court filing Thursday.
In a statement Friday, the FBI’s Chicago office said its agents “pursue the facts when determining any potential violations of federal law without fear or favor and share the subsequent findings for judicial consideration.”
“Prosecutors ultimately determine whether to seek criminal charges and juries make the final determination on whether the evidence meets the criminal standard of proof beyond a reasonable doubt,” the statement read. “The FBI will continue our work to protect our communities and disrupt violent crime wherever it may occur.”
The charges involve an undercover sting near 189th Street and Loretto Lane in Country Club Hills earlier this month that included Illinois State Police, Chicago police, the FBI and the federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives.
Charged in the case were Edwards and Amir Fagan, who were both shot and wounded during the incident, as well as Chashonn Toney, who allegedly ran from the scene.
According to the now-dismissed complaint, two undercover ATF officers and a confidential informant had planned to engage in a controlled firearms purchase in Country Club Hills as part of a larger, ongoing investigation into a firearms-trafficking scheme in the Chicago area.
Leading up to the purchase, the two undercover officers and the informant, who has been cooperating with federal officials for nearly a decade, met at a staging area in Midlothian before picking up a fourth person, who directed them to a residence on the 18800 block of Loretto Lane, the complaint alleged.
A short time later, a white Dodge Dart pulled up behind the undercover vehicle. The complaint, citing agents with knowledge of the investigation and video of the incident, stated that approximately six people were observed inside the Dodge, all but two of whom were wearing balaclava-style face masks.
Two people, later identified as Fagan and Edwards, exited the Dodge and approached the undercover car, while the ATF officers also got out, the complaint stated. A third person got out of the Dodge and pointed a weapon toward the officers and the informant. At the same time, the complaint said, another person — later identified at Toney — likewise exited the Dodge.
Fagan and Edwards proceeded to draw and point their own firearms at the officers and the informant, according to the complaint. An officer told them to put their firearms down and drew their own weapons, the complaint states.
An ATF task force team pulled up and fired shots toward Fagan and Edwards as the pair continued to have their firearms out and pointed at officers. Fagan was shot in the head and arm and transported to a local hospital for treatment.
Meanwhile, Toney tried to flee in the Dodge, according to the complaint. He drove at a high speed toward ATF vehicles that had their lights and sirens on, ultimately hitting an undercover ATF vehicle that had agents inside, the complaint states. Toney then fled on foot.
After shots were fired, officers on the scene saw Edwards also flee the scene and pursued him. During the pursuit, an officer told Edwards to stop, to which Edwards replied something to the effect of “I’m not going back to jail,” the complaint said. A physical altercation ensued, with Edwards striking the officer several times and the officer firing his weapon in response. Edwards was also taken to an area hospital, the complaint said.
Warning: Video contains graphic content
The lawsuit filed by Edwards stated that he is likely to be paralyzed for the rest of his life due to his injuries.
At the hearing Thursday, attorney Lisa Noller, who represents Fagan, said it appeared from the newly released videos that the agents misrepresented that Edwards was both shot at the scene and also fled in the car, an impossibility that she said was “just sad, if nothing else.”
“Edwards can’t be both people,” Noller said. “And so the complaint that puts my client with Mr. Edwards, when it is not Mr. Edwards, also calls into question the identification of Mr. Fagan in that same affidavit because the affidavit is, at minimum, reckless and potentially — and potentially worse.”
The development marked the latest controversy following the collapse of the Broadview Six case, which has enveloped Chicago’s storied U.S. attorney’s office and led to calls for Boutros to resign.
According to transcripts made public last week, the prosecutor who led the investigation of six Operation Midway Blitz protesters improperly “vouched” for the strength of that case in the grand jury, telling the panel to “trust” her to only ask for charges against guilty people, and asked jurors who rejected the prosecution’s presentation to leave the proceedings.
U.S. District Judge April Perry is currently entertaining whether to impose sanctions in that case for potential prosecutorial misconduct, including alleged attempts by Boutros’ office to hide the problems with the grand jury from her.
