CHICAGO — A woman is suing the city of Chicago, a Chicago police officer and an unknown police officer for alleged battery and civil rights violations in connection with the death of Joshua Beal at the hands of two off-duty police officers in the Mt Greenwood neighborhood on Nov. 5, 2016.
Ashley Phifer, individually, as next friend of her minor children and next kin of Joshua Beal, filed a complaint on July 25 in Cook County Circuit Court, alleging police officers shot Beal without cause. While Beal had retrieved a firearm from his vehicle, the lawsuit said he did so not knowing a white man wearing plain clothes, yelling obscenities and pointing a handgun at a group of unarmed black civilians gathered in the street was a police officer. The complaint said Beal was shot multiple times and killed, as he was putting his weapon away. The plaintiff holds the defendants responsible for allegedly pointing a gun at unarmed civilians and using excessive force.
The plaintiff seeks judgment against the defendants in an amount greater than $50,000. She is represented by The Blake Horwitz Law Firm Ltd. in Chicago.
Cook County Circuit Court case number 2017L007500