Dakotah Earley, who was shot twice in the back and once in the back of the head during a robbery attempt in the early morning hours of May 6, has been moved out of the ICU, according to a tweet from his mother, Joy Dobbs. (WTTW News)
A culinary arts student who was shot and seriously wounded during an armed robbery in Lincoln Park last year is suing the city of Chicago and Mayor Lori Lightfoot, claiming they “created the danger” that led to that shooting by passing policies limiting how and when police officers can pursue suspects.
The new federal lawsuit comes nine months after Tyshon Brownlee allegedly robbed and shot 24-year-old Dakotah Earley, who was walking in the 1300 block of West Webster Avenue in the early morning hours of May 6, 2022.
Earley’s attorneys alleged Brownlee had engaged in a “violent rampage” across the North Side for days leading up to that shooting. But when Chicago police officers learned of his whereabouts and began following him just an hour before he allegedly shot Earley, they were forced to back off and end their pursuit to comply with city policies.
“We submit that if the police had continued their pursuit of Mr. Brownlee in a stolen BMW, it would have prevented this entire chain of events and the disaster that happened to Dakotah within just an hour later,” Earley’s attorney, Cass Casper, said at a press conference Thursday. “All they had to do was continue to tail Mr. Brownlee and make an effort to stop him, but they didn’t.”
The reason they halted that pursuit, Casper argued, was because of a “systemic problem” throughout the Chicago Police Department caused by an updated vehicle pursuit policy approved by Lightfoot’s administration in 2020.
“(The officers) were worried about possible criminal liability if they continued their pursuit,” Casper said. “They were worried about getting sued if they continued their pursuit in violation of the department’s policy.”
The lawsuit also lists CPD Superintendent David Brown and two unnamed police officers as defendants.
The CPD changed its policy for vehicle pursuits in August 2020. That updated policy required officers to “consider the need for immediate apprehension of an eluding suspect and the requirement to protect the public from the danger created by eluding offenders” and ensures that no officer could be disciplined for terminating a pursuit.
That change came after Guadalupe Francisco-Martinez, a 37-year-old mother of six, was killed in a traffic accident when her 2005 Ford Explorer was struck by a police car traveling at 98 mph during a pursuit.
But Casper claimed the city failed to take into account the impact that policy would have on members of the public and victims of crime.
“The city of Chicago government, Superintendent Brown, Mayor Lightfoot, they created and increased the danger that Dakotah Earley would be a victim of this crime when they passed the non-pursuit policy,” Casper said.
When asked for comment on the lawsuit, a spokesperson for the city’s Law Department said it will “review the lawsuit upon service," but does not comment on pending litigation.
Brownlee, 19, was arrested days after the shooting and charged with attempted murder, as well as four additional counts of armed robbery stemming from other Lakeview and Lincoln Park area incidents between May 5-6. His cases remain pending.
Earley survived the shooting but remains on the road to recovery. A portion of his leg was amputated after the shooting, and he is scheduled to have a 14th surgical procedure sometime next month.
“Dakotah started walking when he was 11 months old, and it was always a joyous occasion and now to have to see my 24-year-old son get frustrated because he doesn’t have a kneecap, it hurts and it’s hard,” Earley’s mother, Joy Dobbs, said. “He really needs us now.”
Heather Cherone contributed to this report.
Contact Matt Masterson: @ByMattMasterson | [email protected] | (773) 509-5431
