(WTTW News)

Chicago taxpayers should pay $225,000 to the family of an Indianapolis man shot and killed by two off-duty Chicago Police officers in 2016 after he pointed a gun at them during a brawl that exacerbated racial tension in Mount Greenwood, city lawyers recommended.

The agency tasked with investigating misconduct by Chicago police officers ruled the officers were justified in shooting Joshua Beal.

The proposed $225,000 settlement is set to be considered Monday by the City Council’s Finance Committee. A final vote of the City Council could come on Oct. 30.

Beal, 25, of Indianapolis, and his family were traveling along 111th Street on Nov. 5, 2016, as part of a funeral procession through a part of the city’s Far Southwest Side home to many Chicago firefighters, police officers and city workers. More than 80% of Mount Greenwood’s residents are White.

Beal and his family, who are Black, had just buried their cousin, when they got into an altercation with Chicago Police Officer Joseph Treacy near the entrance to Mount Olivet Catholic Cemetery. The lawyer representing Beal’s fiancée and their two children in the lawsuit against the city claimed the melee began when Treacy used a racial epithet to refer to members of Beal’s family.

Witnesses said they saw a Black man punch a White man before the procession stopped in front of the fire station at 111th and Troy streets. Ryne Kinsella, an off-duty Chicago Fire Department recruit, told Beal and his relatives to move their cars, using racial epithets, according to the lawsuit.

Members of the procession that included Beal attacked Kinsella, prompting Treacy to come to Kinsella’s aid with his gun drawn and announce that he was a Chicago Police officer. Sgt. Thomas Derouin, encountered the brawl on his way to work and stopped to assist Kinsella and Treacy.

Minutes after Derouin arrived on the scene, Beal retrieved his own gun from inside his car and pointed it at the officers, according to the investigation conducted by the Civilian Office of Police Accountability, known as COPA.

Treacy and Derouin opened fire, killing Beal. Kinsella provided medical aid to Beal after he was shot, according to video from the scene.

Beal’s shooting touched off days of protests in Mount Greenwood, with groups demanding police reform and racial justice as part of the movement known as Black Lives Matter. Some residents of Mount Greenwood reacted to those gatherings with hostility and racist statements, while others held counter demonstrations to support Chicago’s police and fire departments.

Two days after the officers shot and killed Beal, former President Donald Trump defeated Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton.

Five Marist High School students were expelled in the days after Beal’s death for sending and sharing racist text messages about the incident.

The probe by COPA concluded that Treacy and Derouin acted in accordance with departmental policy when they shot Beal.

Treacy, who is no longer a Chicago police officer, was later suspended for 90 days for failing to register a gun with CPD as required. Derouin remains a CPD sergeant, records show. Kinsella, who was a police officer before joining the fire department, died by suicide in June 2018.

In a separate case, the City Council’s Finance Committee will weigh whether to pay $325,000 to Wenmin Chen, who was shot and wounded by a Chicago police officer in March 2018 while suffering a mental health crisis.

COPA concluded Officer David Perez was justified in shooting Chen, records show.

Chen’s wife called 911 on March 13, 2018, seeking emergency medical treatment and two officers arrived at their Chinatown apartment.

Chen was armed with a large knife when officers arrived, according to COPA’s investigation. Chen, who spoke only Cantonese, had injured himself, according to the probe.

Officers shocked Chen twice with a Taser when he walked toward them, and then shot him in the thigh after that failed to make him stop. Chen was critically wounded.

Neither officer was trained to respond to calls for help from people experiencing mental health crisis, according to the lawsuit.

Contact Heather Cherone: @HeatherCherone | (773) 569-1863 | [email protected]