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Chicago Officer Who Shot Quintonio LeGrier Hires Drew Peterson's Lawyer

By Kelly Bauer | February 7, 2016 1:37pm
 Joel Brodsky (l.), famous from the Drew Peterson case, has filed a countersuit for Officer Robert Rialmo, who shot and killed Quintonio LeGrier, 19. LeGrier's father Antonio (r.) earlier filed a wrongful death lawsuit against the city.
Joel Brodsky (l.), famous from the Drew Peterson case, has filed a countersuit for Officer Robert Rialmo, who shot and killed Quintonio LeGrier, 19. LeGrier's father Antonio (r.) earlier filed a wrongful death lawsuit against the city.
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CHICAGO — The officer who shot and killed 19-year-old Quintonio LeGrier is suing the teen's estate, saying the incident caused him "extreme emotional trauma."

Officer Robert Rialmo and his attorney, Joel Brodsky, famous from the Drew Peterson case, filed a lawsuit against LeGrier's estate on Friday. They're seeking more than $10 million in damages.

The countersuit comes after LeGrier's father, Antonio, filed a wrongful death lawsuit against the city.

READ: What to Know About the Police Shootings of Bettie Jones, Quintonio LeGrier

According to Rialmo's lawsuit, the officer was forced to shoot LeGrier on Dec. 26 when LeGrier attacked Rialmo with a baseball bat. LeGrier was shot six times, but one of those bullets passed through his body and fatally hit Bettie Jones, a 55-year-old woman who lived under LeGrier's father, according to the lawsuit.

This characterization of the shooting has been challenged by the LeGrier family's wrongful death lawsuit.

At the time, police said Jones was "accidentally struck and tragically killed."

LeGrier's death "has caused, and will continue to cause, Officer Rialmo to suffer extreme emotional trauma," according to the lawsuit. Rialmo has also had to pay for medical expenses and has dealt with "pain and suffering," among other injuries, according to the lawsuit.

"The actions of the LeGrier were criminal, done in a willful, malicious and wanton manner, and showed a depraved and callous disregard for the rights and privileges of others ...," according to the lawsuit.

In their lawsuit, LeGrier's family said Quintonio, who studied engineering at Northern Illinois University, "never had possession or control of weapon" and "never posed a danger or threat of harm to any Chicago Police officer." Their lawsuit said "the use of force was excessive and unreasonable."

Brodsky, Rialmo's lawyer, gained fame as the attorney for Drew Peterson, a Bolingbrook officer who was convicted of killing his third wife, Kathleen Savio, after his fourth wife, Stacy Peterson, went missing in 2007.

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