This browser does not support the Video element.
In a FOX 32 exclusive, the son of a murdered cab driver is speaking out after filing a lawsuit against the office of the Cook County State’s Attorney, accusing prosecutors of refusing to release information in the case.
Surveillance video shows the fatal encounter between Anis Tungekar and an Uber driver in September on the Near West Side. In the video, the driver of the Uber is seen kicking Tungekar before he falls to the ground.
He died at Northwestern Memorial Hospital two days later.
The driver, Lu Fangqi, was taken into custody, but released days later after the Cook County State’s Attorney’s Office hesitated to file charges. At the time, State’s Attorney Kim Foxx said she needed to examine the case further.
An arrest warrant was ultimately obtained by police, but Fangqi had already fled to China.
Tungekar's family is now suing Kim Foxx's office after they said a request for public records has been denied, despite police fulfilling a similar request.
The family's attorney, Mike Gallagher, said the lawsuit is necessary because the suspect in the case, Lu Fangqi, has evaded justice for too long, and they want a judge to compel the state's attorney's office to release information in the case, believing there is no legitimate reason to hold it.
“I don’t know why the state’s attorney’s office has blocked every attempt by (the) Chicago Police Department to bring a murderer to justice,” Omar Tungekar, Anis Tungekar's son, said in a phone interview.
After charges against "Empire" actor Jussie Smollett were dropped, in his belief, there's a bias within the state's attorney's office, according to Tungekar.
“Unless the people hold Kim Foxx accountable to politicizing her state’s attorney’s office, using it to dole out favors to people who are connected to celebrities who (and) are connected to the Obama White House, there is no justice in Chicago,” he said.
At the time of this publishing, the Cook County State’s Attorney’s Office had not responded to a request for comment.
It’s unclear whether the U.S. State Department was seeking to extradite the suspect.