Clifford Law Offices Files Lawsuit Against Chicago Police Department in Negligent Police Shooting

Clifford Law Offices is filing Wednesday (Jan. 26) a lawsuit against the Chicago Police Department on behalf of an innocent motorist who was shot last July by a Chicago officer who was shooting at an unrelated fleeing suspect in a residential neighborhood.

Juan Murillo, 35, of Chicago's northwest side, was innocently shot by Officer Carol Weingart as he was driving through stop-and-go rush hour traffic on his way home from work on north Ridge Road.

At the time Officer Weingart fired at the suspect, he was running away from the officer with his back to her. The complaint, filed in Cook County Circuit Court, charges the officer did not follow proper departmental policies and used unnecessary deadly force with a total disregard for the safety of nearby innocent people.

Murillo lost his left eye as a result of the shooting.

Timothy Tomasik, a former Assistant Cook County State's Attorney and now an attorney at Clifford Law Offices, is assisting partner Robert Clifford on this case.

The lawsuit comes on the heels of a Chicago Police Board hearing into the shooting death of LaTanya Haggerty, a 26-year-old woman who was killed when a female officer, Serena Daniels, shot the unarmed woman after a car chase last June.