A Chicago mother will move forward with a civil complaint against the city and five Chicago Police Department officers a day after murder charges against her and her son were dismissed by the State Attorney’s office.
The civil rights lawsuit on behalf of Carlishia Hood and her 14-year-old son was filed by lawyers Ari Williams and Brandon Brown in the Circuit Court of Cook County and announced during a press conference on Tuesday, June 27.
The complaint alleges that Hood and her son were falsely arrested and maliciously prosecuted in being charged with murder in the son’s slaying of 32-year-old Jeremy Brown.
While her son did fatally shoot the man in the June 18 incident, it was only after he witnessed him viciously beat his mom inside a local hot dog spot as she stood at the counter.
“No one else in the establishment did anything. And so, once he saw his mother get severely hit, he took action,” said Ja’Mal Green, a community activist.
Hood and her son fled the scene after the shooting before turning themselves in to authorities three days later on June 21.
What Hood’s supporters are calling misinformation spread like wildfire as it was reported that the woman texted her son to come into the establishment and kill her abuser. The attorneys also alleged that law enforcement, when they arrested her several days after the incident, intentionally inflicted emotional distress, another violation of her civil rights.
The mother was facing a felony count of murder and another count of contributing to the delinquency of a minor. The teen was facing a felony count of murder.
Instead of being treated as victims, she and her son were treated as criminals, Hood and her family say.
“On June 18 of this year, my life changed, my son’s life changed. I’ve experienced pain and in many ways that I would never have thought,” Hood said. “Never in a million years would I have imagined being brutally attacked, beaten, and then arrested.”
After new evidence surfaced, possibly including a cellphone video showing Brown brutally punching the 35-year-old in the head three times, State’s Attorney Kim Cook opted to drop all charges.
“In light of emerging evidence, today the Cook County state’s attorney’s office has moved to dismiss the charges against Carlishia Hood and her 14-year-old son,” read a statement from the office. “Based upon the facts, evidence, and the law we are unable to meet our burden of proof in the prosecution of these cases.”
While the state has not identified the video as the key evidence, ABC7 legal analyst Gil Soffer believes it is.
“What this leaked video did was is it really flipped the prosecutor’s view of the case,” Soffer explained. “Before seeing this, they clearly were of the view that the defendant was the aggressor. Now, they are of the view that the person they had formerly seen as the victim was the aggressor.”
Hood says she has also suffered emotional distress because of the ordeal. She believes that the allegations have colored how people see her and her son and said at one point during the press conference, “Everything I have worked for has been tarnished.”
Her lawyers shared that strangers have gone to her home and harassed her and her family members because of the incident.
“We are asking that you keep this family in prayer. Protect this family,” he asked before saying, “And I have good reason to believe that they need protection.”
During the press conference, the lawyers both acknowledged their appreciation of State Attorney Kim Foxx’s decision to dismiss murder charges.
“When a woman is violently attacked by a man, an unarmed woman, then she shouldn’t be arrested,” Brown said. “If your mother or sister or daughter were attacked in a restaurant when she is trying to order a cheeseburger, would you expect that she would be arrested?”
Brown said the initial decision to charge the woman and her son was made prematurely.
“It was an obvious rush to judgment,” the attorney said.
As the family is seeking redress, Brown says they are acutely cognizant that another family is mourning a loss.
“We are praying for the family of this man who lost his life. I don’t want that to be forgotten,” the lawyer said before adding that despite not wanting to “dilute” or “diminish” that pain he believes his clients were wronged and are seeking justice.
As of publishing, the city has not replied to the lawsuit.
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