Darius Cole-Garrit, a 21-year-old African American male, was shot and killed by Chicago police officers on August 19, 2014, during a foot chase on the Far South Side of Chicago. The incident occurred near 133rd Street and Forrestville Avenue at approximately 9:30 p.m. Cole-Garrit, who was originally from Chicago but had moved to Minnesota, was visiting the city to attend a neighborhood picnic.
According to reports, he was playing basketball at Golden Gate Park earlier in the day when he was allegedly threatened by the officers who later shot him. The officers reportedly told him, 'we got your ass, we are going to get you,' which left Cole-Garrit feeling scared and prompting him to call his girlfriend to express his fear.
The confrontation escalated later that evening when the officers, in an unmarked SUV, nearly ran over Cole-Garrit before shooting him in the back as he fled. The officers fired a total of 16 shots, striking Cole-Garrit nine times. The police claimed that Cole-Garrit had pointed a gun at them during the chase, which led them to open fire. A gun was recovered at the scene, approximately 20 feet from Cole-Garrit's body. However, there was no video footage of the incident as it occurred before Chicago police officers were equipped with body cameras.
The shooting sparked significant controversy and led to a lawsuit filed by Cole-Garrit's family in 2016. The lawsuit alleged that the officers had premeditated the shooting and that it was a targeted assassination. The family sought $30 million in damages, claiming that the officers had threatened Cole-Garrit earlier in the day and then followed through with their threat. The lawsuit withstood several attempts by city lawyers to dismiss it and was further delayed by the shutdown of the federal civil court system during the COVID-19 pandemic.
In December 2023, the Chicago City Council voted 31-18 to settle the lawsuit for $2 million, reversing an earlier decision to reject the settlement. The settlement included more than $800,000 in fees for the lawyers representing Cole-Garrit's family. Despite the settlement, the officers involved in the shooting were not criminally charged or reprimanded. The Independent Police Review Authority (IPRA) had investigated the shooting and deemed it justified, but the lack of disciplinary action against the officers remained a point of contention. The settlement was seen as a bittersweet victory for Cole-Garrit's family, providing financial compensation for his children but failing to hold the officers accountable for their actions.
