Pubdate: Wed, 19 Jan 2000
Source: Chicago Tribune (IL)
Copyright: 2000 Chicago Tribune Company
Contact:  435 N. Michigan Ave., Chicago, IL 60611-4066
Website: http://www.chicagotribune.com/
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Author: Todd Lighty, staff writer
Bookmark: MAP's link to this and other stories from Illinois: http://www.mapinc.org/states/il

BOTH SIDES LET LOOSE AT HEARING FOR 4 COPS

City Berates Officers; Witness Gets Grilling

A city attorney urged the Chicago Police Board on Tuesday to fire four
officers involved in last summer's shooting death of LaTanya Haggerty,
saying, "The only person in the whole story who did nothing wrong ended up
dead."

On the first day of testimony before the Police Board, which will decide
whether the officers should be terminated, assistant corporation counsel
Lara Shayne said that Haggerty, an unarmed passenger in a car pursued by
police, was a victim of officers breaking numerous department rules and
regulations.

"These individuals can no longer be police officers. . . . These
individuals have brought discredit on the police force," Shayne said in her
opening statement.

All four officers involved in the June 4 chase through busy South Side
streets attended the hearing, sitting quietly and out of uniform.

The officers -- Serena Daniels, who fired the fatal shot; Michael Williams;
Stafford Wilson; and Carl Carter -- were suspended without pay last summer
pending the outcome of the termination proceedings.

Their lawyer, Joseph Roddy, gave no opening remarks, but he tangled several
times with the city's first witness, Raymond Smith, who was driving the
fleeing car.

In his first public account of the shooting, Smith said he led the officers
on a chase because he feared they would snatch him from the car and harm
him.

"I was frightened for my safety, as well as hers," Smith said, referring to
Haggerty, his longtime friend.

Roddy, however, countered that the reason Smith ran was because he had
marijuana hidden in his car and feared being arrested for the second time
in less than a month.

"Why didn't you get out of the car?" Roddy asked.

"And get shot?" Smith retorted.

Roddy persisted, yelling at Smith, "Why didn't you get out of the car?"

Another lawyer for the city, John Gibbons, objected, saying Roddy was
badgering the witness.

Roddy leaned toward Smith and gently whispered, "Why didn't you get out of
the car?"

When Gibbons objected that he could not hear the question, Roddy, his face
reddening, screamed, "Why didn't he get out of the car, Mr. Gibbons?"

The hearing into Haggerty's death, one of two unarmed motorists whom
Chicago police shot dead within eight hours of each other in early June,
prompted several spirited exchanges and disclosed new details.

Roddy was successful in probing Smith's arrest record, in pointing out that
witnesses gave conflicting accounts of the encounter, and getting a police
dispatcher to admit that perhaps Daniels did report over the police radio
that the officers had fired their guns early in the chase.

More details could emerge later in the week when Daniels and her colleagues
are expected to offer their first public version of what happened.
Testimony resumes at 9 a.m. Wednesday at Police Headquarters.

Daniels has told investigators she shot Haggerty when she mistook a shiny
object in Haggerty's hand for a gun. However, none of the witnesses have
backed up Daniels' account, with several saying Haggerty was holding a
black cellular telephone when she was shot.

Supt. Terry Hillard has filed administrative charges against the officers,
accusing them of disobeying their sergeant's order to stop chasing
Haggerty's car, failing to quickly report that shots had been fired, and
failing to get immediate medical help for Haggerty.

Hillard also accused three of the officers of providing false information
to investigators about Smith trying to run them over as the chase began.

The Police Board is a nine-member panel appointed by the mayor. A hearing
officer picked by the board serves as the judge, the city's lawyers are the
prosecutors and Roddy is the defense lawyer.

The civilian board members do not have to attend the hearing but will
receive transcripts. The board could find the officers guilty and fire
them, find them guilty but hand out less harsh punishments, or find them
not guilty and reinstate them with back pay.

In her opening statement, Shayne retold in detail the final minutes of
Haggerty's life, beginning with Smith picking her up outside work at the
downtown offices of Encyclopaedia Britannica Inc.

"It was 4:30. At that point, LaTanya Haggerty didn't know she had less than
an hour to live," Shayne said.

She described how Officers Daniels and Williams pulled up to Smith's car,
double-parked on South Cottage Grove Avenue, minutes later. A routine
request for Smith's license and insurance card, she said, turned into a
chaotic, angry chase that became personal for the officers involved. "They
were going to get Smith at any cost," she said.

The officers in two squad cars reportedly ignored their sergeant's order
calling off the chase, Shayne said. Further, she said, the officers failed
to communicate with the police dispatcher.

"Both squad cars were completely radio silent for 31 blocks, nearly four
miles, 6 minutes, 40 seconds," Shayne said. "Improper. Dangerous."

Smith finally stopped his car on King Drive near 64th Street, in front of
the offices of the Chicago Crusader newspaper, where his uncle works.

Smith testified that two officers, Williams and Carter, pulled him from the
car. He heard Williams say, "Give him two, and that's it."

Smith said he then was hit from behind, fell to the pavement, was hit some
more and handcuffed. Smith said he heard a shot but did not see who fired.

Roddy hammered at Smith over a past arrest on marijuana charges, over his
refusal to obey officers' lawful commands, and for ignoring Haggerty's
request that he pull over.

Smith, who in December filed an $11 million lawsuit alleging police
brutality, was clearly frustrated by Roddy's questioning. He blurted out,
"The only thing I know I didn't do is murder my friend."

While the Police Board hearing was under way, controversy brewed at Rev.
Jesse Jackson's Rainbow/PUSH headquarters over suspended Officer Carl
Carter's work there as a security guard.

A small group of protesters called for Carter to be removed and for Jackson
to publicly apologize to the Haggerty family.

Jackson's office did issue a statement later in the day, saying, "We extend
our apologies to the family of LaTanya Haggerty and regret any
inconvenience this incident has caused."

Officials for the security firm, High Point Services, said Carter has
worked for the company since July and worked only once at Rainbow/PUSH,
driving security guards from one site to another last Saturday. He was not
carrying a gun during the assignment.

Company president Howard Pointer said that he has known Carter's family for
40 years and that, upon Jackson's request, Carter will not be assigned
again to Rainbow/PUSH. He will continue working for the security firm.
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MAP posted-by: Eric Ernst