CHICAGO — The fiancee of Joshua Beal, a man shot dead by officers while coming back from a funeral, has filed a lawsuit against the Chicago Police Department, according to reports.
The lawsuit, which calls for more than $100,000 in damages, alleges an off-duty officer didn't properly identify himself before shooting Beal, according to ABC7. It was filed on behalf of Beal's fiancee and their two children.
The shooting happened Nov. 5 in Mt. Greenwood: Beal, 25, was in a procession returning from a funeral when he stopped his car in front of a firehouse near 111th Street and Troy Avenue, police said. A firefighter told Beal he was blocking the way to the station and a confrontation started.
RELATED: 911 Calls, Videos Show Frantic Scene Of Joshua Beal Shooting
An off-duty officer joined the confrontation, and a police sergeant driving by saw a man with a gun and stopped, police said. The sergeant got out of his car, took out his gun and said he was police, but the situation "continued to escalate" and shots were fired at Beal from the sergeant and the off-duty officer, police said.
The off-duty officers fired 11 times, according to documents from the Independent Police Review Authority, and the sergeant fired seven times. Beal was hit in his abdomen, back, chest, groin, shoulder and thigh, and his head and forearm were grazed by bullets.
The incident was recorded in a video that police said showed Beal carrying a gun during the confrontation. The suit alleges Beal was shot even after he'd put away his gun, according to ABC7.
Family previously said Beal was licensed to carry a gun in Indiana, but authorities said he was not licensed to carry one in Illinois.
During a court hearing in the days after the shooting, prosecutors said the off-duty police officer told Beal that he was blocking access to the firehouse and the confrontation started. Another off-duty officer in a nearby barber shop joined in on the confrontation, prosecutors said.
A group of nine people approached the second officer and started punching him, prosecutors said.
A police sergeant driving to work saw the fight. He got out of his car, drew his gun and said he was a police officer, authorities said.
"You're not the only mother------- out there with guns," Joshua Beal said and waved the gun "back and forth," according to prosecutors. Joshua Beal then pulled the trigger, prosecutors said. It was unclear whether the gun actually fired.
Beal, who was in town to serve as a pallbearer at his cousin's funeral, refused to drop his gun, and he was shot multiple times, prosecutors said. He later died at Advocate Christ Medical Center.
His brother Michael Beal then tried to pick up his brother's gun, prosecutors said.
"F--- you," Michael Beal said, according to prosecutors. "You killed my brother. I'm going to kill you."
Michael Beal got into a fight with one of the off-duty officers, choking him on the ground, prosecutors said.
Officers arrested Michael Beal, who was charged with trying to disarm a police officer and assaulting and officer.
Barry Spector, Michael Beal's attorney, said the story shared by prosecutors is incomplete and varies from accounts given by police.
Spector said Michael Beal should not be punished for attacking an officer after seeing his brother fatally shot because it was not undeniably clear he was dealing with police.
"You've got a guy on a Saturday afternoon going around running errands wearing gym shoes and blue jeans and a T-shirt, and he's walking out with a gun sticking it in your face, saying, 'I'm the police,'" Spector said. "Well, says who?"
Joshua Beal was previously convicted of a misdemeanor battery charge after a 2009 Indiana road-rage incident, court records show. The conviction was upheld after Joshua Beal appealed.
In that incident, another man rear-ended Joshua Beal's car and then drove off, court records show. Beal drove after the car and told the driver, Porfiro Mendosa, to pay him at least $660 for the damage, court records show.
"When Mendosa could not pay the amount Beal wanted, Beal pulled out a gun and hit Mendosa on the forehead above his right eye with it. Beal then demanded Mendosa sign over the title to Mendosa's truck," prosecutors said.
Joshua Beal's death led to a series of police brutality protests in the area, but activists said they faced racism and slurs when they went to the Far South Side neighborhood.
