Mother whose charges were dropped in deadly Chicago restaurant shooting files lawsuit
CHICAGO - The Chicago mother previously charged in a man's murder at a West Pullman restaurant filed a lawsuit Tuesday, claiming the dismissed charges have caused "great harm" to her family.
Charges against Carlishia Hood, 35, and her 14-year-old son were dropped Monday after new video showed the violent June 18th confrontation between Hood and 32-year-old Jeremy Brown leading up to his shooting death.
Hood was initially accused of ordering her son to shoot to Brown outside Maxwell Street Express, 11656 S. Halsted St.
A cellphone video posted on social media over the weekend shows the man yelling at Hood on June 18 to "get your food" before threatening to "knock" her out. He then punches Hood in the face and head several times.
Prosecutors said Hood texted her 14-year-old son, who was outside the restaurant, to come inside. Brown was shot in the back by the teen and then ran from the restaurant. Hood and her son, whose name was not released due to his age, followed Brown as Hood told the teen to continue shooting, prosecutors said. Brown was pronounced dead at the scene.
"I've experienced pain in many ways, many ways that I would never have thought. Never. What happened to me was totally unnecessary. Never in a million years would I have imagined being brutally attacked, beaten and then arrested," Hood said. "I am thankful that the Cook County State’s Attorney dismissed the case."
Attorneys for Hood filed a four-count complaint against the City of Chicago, alleging malicious prosecution, false arrest and intentional infliction of emotional distress.
"You don't have to be a lawyer to appreciate and recognize when a woman is violently attacked by a man—an unarmed woman—that she shouldn't be arrested," Attorney Brandon Brown said. "If any one of you were to replace Carlishia Hood with your mother, your sister, your daughter. If your mother or sister or daughter were attacked in a restaurant when she's trying to order a cheeseburger, would you expect that she would be arrested? What would you do in that situation?"
Attorneys said the Hood family has been threatened.
Hood's attorney, Ari Williams, told reporters Monday that "Ms. Hood is and has always been a victim."
"On June 18 of this year my life changed. My son's life changed," she told reporters Tuesday at a news conference.
One local resident told FOX 32 he does not fault Hood after seeing the video.
"She was terrified. She was in shock. Her mind wasn't right. He told her on that video, ‘On my grandmamma, I’m a knock you out.' Knocked out means you're going to be unconscious. What if she didn't regain consciousness? After her son shot him the first time, [Brown] ran down the street. What if he was running to his car to get a gun and come back and shoot back? Who knows," the resident said.
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Court documents stated Brown ran out of the restaurant and the boy followed him, firing additional shots. Hood told her son to keep shooting Brown until he killed him, according to prosecutors.
Once the shooting was over, Hood also told her son to shoot Brown's girlfriend who was egging on the argument she was having earlier. Hood tried to wrangle the gun away from her son, but he pushed her away, court documents said.
They then got into their vehicle and drove home together. Surveillance video captured both of them arriving home after the shooting.
Brown suffered two gunshot wounds to the back and was pronounced dead at the scene.
The Cook County State's Attorney's Office did not mention the new video in its statement about dropping the charges but instead wrote, "Based upon the facts, evidence, and the law we are unable to meet our burden of proof in the prosecution of these cases."
Hood and her son were initially charged with one count of first-degree murder. Hood was also charged with contributing to the delinquency of a minor. All charges have since been dropped.
Community activist Ja’Mal Green said the shooting was self-defense.
"I would never praise a situation that ends in violence. In this case, the young man did what he felt like he needed to do," Green said.
Attorneys for Hood claim Brown was out on bond for a firearm offense at the time of the shooting. They said Brown had "a documented criminal history for being violent against African-American women."
The attorneys said additional lawsuits are forthcoming.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.