CHICAGO -- A three-year investigation has not yielded enough evidence to prosecute police officers who fatally shot unarmed motorists in two separate June 1999 incidents, according to state and federal officials.
At a news conference Tuesday, Cook County State's Attorney Richard Devine and U.S. Attorney Patrick Fitzgerald announced that they have decided not to charge Chicago police Officer Van Watts IV in connection with the death of Robert Russ, a 22-year-old Northwestern University football player and Thornton Fractional North alumnus who was killed by police after a traffic altercation a week before his graduation.
They also said they will not charge former Officer Serena Daniels for the death of 26-year-old LaTanya Haggerty. Daniels shot Haggerty, who was a passenger in a car fleeing police.
"We thoroughly examined the evidence and found that there was no necessary intent in either shooting," Devine said. "These shootings were a tragedy for the two people who died and their families. But to charge any of the officers involved in these shootings would compound the tragedy."
People are also reading…
Fitzgerald said his office and the U.S. Justice Department's civil rights division have also investigated the deaths of Russ and Haggerty, who were both African-American, and have decided there is not enough evidence to bring any federal criminal charges. He said the investigation took three years because the Justice Department needed time to look through all the information in painstaking detail.
"We were definitely not looking to drag this out," he added.
According to Fitzgerald, prosecutors would have to establish that the officers willfully used unreasonable force against Russ and Haggerty to prove a violation of federal criminal civil rights laws. No such evidence exists, he said.
According to Devine, Watts shot Russ during a struggle. Russ allegedly had not followed police orders to pull his car over during a chase that ended on the Dan Ryan Expressway. When Watts told Russ to exit the car, Russ allegedly resisted, causing Watts to stick his gun through the driver's side window, which was tinted so that police could not determine whether Russ was armed.
Russ allegedly grabbed the gun and pulled it forward, causing it to discharge.
Watts received a 15-day suspension from the Police Department after the shooting. He is currently on leave serving in the armed forces in Afghanistan.
Fitzgerald said that physical evidence, including powder burns on Russ' hands and the positioning of his gunshot wound, established that the shooting took place during a struggle.
But Vera Love, Russ' mother, previously said her son would not have put up any struggle against Watts. She had asked Devine's office to press criminal charges against the officer. Love could not be reached for comment Tuesday about the decision not to prosecute.
Donald Shapiro, a lawyer who is representing Erin Lewis, the mother of Russ' son, in a wrongful death suit against Watts and the city of Chicago, also questions whether Russ contributed to his own death. Shapiro said he cannot understand Devine's and Fitzgerald's decision not to charge Watts.
"I'm perplexed by the government's failure to prosecute Watts based on their opinion that they cannot prove him guilty beyond a reasonable doubt," Shapiro said in an interview. "I don't know how they reached that conclusion without first asking to see some of the work I've done. I've taken extensive depositions from police officers and forensic evidence. They never asked to look at any of that."
Haggerty, a computer analyst, was riding through Chicago's South Side with her companion, Raymond Smith, when police allegedly chased his car for several miles. The chase, which was apparently not authorized by the Police Department, ended at 64th Street and King Drive.
Daniels allegedly shot Haggerty when Haggerty did not respond to a request to get out of the car. Devine said the investigation showed Daniels did not intend to kill Haggerty, but acted in fear because she believed Haggerty was armed.
"This was not good police work, and we don't characterize it as such," Devine said. "But Daniels had no intention of fatally shooting Haggerty."
Following the incident, Daniels was dismissed from the police force and the city of Chicago agreed to pay $18 million to settle a wrongful death suit filed by Haggerty's family.