Man shot by Cook County sheriff’s police during SW Side traffic stop; family claims he was unarmed

CHICAGO - A man was shot by Cook County sheriff’s police during a traffic stop Wednesday near LeClaire Courts, although family disputes he was armed during the Southwest Side encounter.

The Cook County sheriff’s office released few details of the shooting, other than confirming a man was shot twice at 7:20 p.m. in the 4600 block of South Laramie Avenue.

He was taken to Mount Sinai Hospital in good condition, the sheriff’s office said.

No officers were injured, and the man was placed in custody, according to Chicago police, who are investigating the shooting.

Maurice Foster said he was at a park with his youngest son when he got a call from his daughter saying his firstborn, 27-year-old Durel Foster, had been shot.

Officers on the scene were tight-lipped about the details, Maurice Foster said, but Durel’s friends, who were with Durel before the shooting, told him that his son was being “harassed” by a sheriff’s officer who recognized him at a nearby car wash.

That officer followed Durel Foster home from the car wash near 47th Street and Central Avenue, Maurice Foster said. When Durel Foster declined to stop his car for the officer and got out by his grandmother’s house in the 4600 block of South Laramie Avenue, the officer shot him.

Maurice Foster said his son was unarmed at the time of the shooting. He said his son is “an excellent basketball player, he’s smart, he’s intelligent, he’s respectful, and he’s good to his family.”

“Police stopped him because of the way he looked, he’s a young Black man, he had nice jewelry on, nice clothes,” Maurice Foster said. “They didn’t even tell me when they put him in the ambulance, he was already shot twice and tased, he had the handcuffs on … and they put him in the ambulance for 10 minutes.”

The sheriff’s office did not immediately respond to the allegations.