CITY HALL — The city should pay $200,000 to a man charged with firing a weapon from the front porch of a Roseland home during New Year's celebrations three years ago, city attorneys recommended Friday.
David Purnell was arrested shortly after midnight Jan. 1, 2014, by officers responding to a call about gunshots fired from the front porch — a common but dangerous way to celebrate New Year's Eve, officials said. Purnell was found not guilty of charges that he recklessly discharged a weapon.
He spent 11 months in jail before being aquitted.
Purnell, who did not live at the house in the 200 block of west 106th Street, said he had not fired the .40 caliber handgun officers found in the home.
According to the lawsuit filed by Purnell, officers refused to conduct gunshot residue tests on his hands to show whether he had fired a weapon. Purnell also claimed officers submitted false police reports and fabricated evidence to implicate him in the crime.
Purnell's lawsuit argued that the officers' actions violated his civil rights, and that several officers conspired to cover up the illegal actions following the Police Department's "code of silence" that Mayor Rahm Emanuel acknowledged nearly a year ago.
In a court filing, city officials denied Purnell's claims.
The City Council's Finance Committee is scheduled to consider the settlement at its meeting set for Monday. The full Council could approve the settlement Wednesday.
