Politics
Top Cop Agrees to Fire Officer Who Shot 13-Year-Old Boy Without Justification, Leaving Him Paralyzed
(WTTW News)
The Chicago police officer who shot a 13-year-old boy in May 2022, leaving him permanently paralyzed, should be fired, the agency tasked with investigating police misconduct and Chicago Police Superintendent Larry Snelling agreed, records show.
The Civilian Office of Police Accountability determined that Officer Noah Ball’s decision to shoot the boy was unjustified, a conclusion endorsed by Snelling, according to records published Friday.
The agency, better known as COPA, found that Ball shot the boy after he had turned toward officers chasing him on foot and “appeared to raise his hands” after being ordered to stop and surrender, based on video captured by a nearby surveillance camera.
When Ball shot him, the boy “was unarmed and posed no imminent threat,” COPA’s investigation concluded.
Ball, who is not listed in the city’s database of active employees, was on a leave of absence in November when Snelling agreed to fire him and place him on a list of employees ineligible to be rehired by the city, records show. A CPD spokesperson said Ball is an inactive member of the department.
Ball, whose official city email is no longer active, could not be reached for comment. A lawyer representing Ball did not respond to a request for comment. A spokesperson for the city’s Law Department declined to comment to WTTW News.
COPA’s recommendation that Ball, who joined CPD in 2017, be terminated is the second time the agency has urged that he be fired for using the highest level of force without justification against a member of the public.
Snelling, backed by a member of the Chicago Police Board, blocked Ball’s termination in connection with a June 2021 shooting, which occurred less than a year before Ball would shoot a 13-year-old boy and sever his spinal column, records show.
Cierra Corbitt, the boy’s mother, has sued the city, alleging Ball “recklessly, callously, and wantonly” shot her son — identified in court records by his initials, A.G. — in violation of his civil rights as he obeyed officers’ orders to surrender after a brief foot pursuit near Chicago and Cicero avenues in Austin.
The boy’s name was redacted from COPA’s report but his family’s lawyers confirmed to WTTW News that the COPA report published Friday involves his shooting.
Chicago taxpayers paid more than $1 million to private lawyers to defend Ball’s conduct through March 2025, according to records obtained by WTTW News through a Freedom of Information Act request.
A request for an updated accounting of how much taxpayers have paid to defend Ball to date is pending.
A trial date has not yet been set by U.S. District Court Judge John Tharp Jr. Records show negotiations to settle the case have been ongoing, but so far unsuccessful.
Focus on May 2022 Shooting
The incident that injured A.G. began just after 10 p.m. on May 18, 2022, when CPD officers attempted to stop a 2008 silver Honda Accord suspected of being involved in a carjacking and kidnapping of a child the previous day in Oak Park. A CPD helicopter began tracking the car’s progress through the city’s West Side, according to COPA’s probe.
After evading officers at a high rate of speed for several minutes, the car stopped in the middle of a block and the 13-year-old boy got out of the car and ran, according to the probe.
Four officers, including Ball, pursued the boy on foot, according to the probe.
“Once (A.G.) reached the gas station parking lot, he made a 180-degree turn to his right and appeared to raise both hands,” according to the probe. “Officer Ball ran onto the east sidewalk of Cicero Avenue and pointed his firearm at (A.G.) Officer Ball yelled twice, ‘Drop the gun!’ and Officer Ball discharged his firearm three times in rapid succession.”
Ball fired at the boy “within seconds of exiting the squad car,” according to the probe. No other officer fired their gun.
None of the officers, including Ball, activated their body-worn cameras until after the shooting, in violation of CPD policy, according to the probe. The shooting was captured by the gas station’s surveillance cameras, records show.
Two of the officers present when Ball shot the 13-year-old boy have left the department. The fourth officer should get a reprimand for failing to turn on his body-worn camera, according to Snelling’s letter to interim COPA Administrator LaKenya White.
“Officer Ball was required to consider alternatives to prevent or reduce the need for using deadly force,” according to COPA’s probe. “Here, he did not use time as a tactic, take cover, or request assistance, all options available to him at the time that would have reduced or prevented the need for use of deadly force.”
COPA did not publicly release any video of the shooting, since state law prohibits the agency from publicly releasing video and other materials that involve juvenile subjects. However, a Freedom of Information Act request for the video filed by the family was fulfilled, according to a statement from COPA.
There is no evidence that the 13-year-old boy was ever charged with a crime in connection with the stolen car or the carjacking. He was not armed when he was shot, according to the probe.
Ball did not participate in COPA’s investigation of the shooting, as required by CPD policy.
A month after Ball shot A.G., CPD finalized a new policy governing when officers can chase people on foot.
That policy, required by the federal court order known as the consent decree, was crafted after Chicago police officers shot and killed 13-year-old Adam Toledo and 22-year-old Anthony Alvarez in March 2021.
Focus on June 2021 Shooting
It took Chicago’s police accountability system more than two and a half years to determine whether Ball violated department rules in June 2021 by firing his gun at a man he and his partner were attempting to stop on suspicion of traffic violations, records show.
In that incident, Ball told COPA investigators he fired after a man fled from the car he and his partner were attempting to stop and pointed a gun and shot toward him. No one was injured during the incident.
However, COPA concluded in June 2023 that there was no evidence the man officers were attempting to apprehend fired at officers, although a gun was recovered from the scene, records show. The agency ruled the shooting was unjustified and urged Snelling to fire Ball.
Snelling declined to endorse that recommendation, determining in September 2023 that Ball’s decision to fire his weapon was reasonable and justified.
In a letter to former COPA Chief Administrator Andrea Kersten, Snelling said Ball’s partner saw the man they were attempting to apprehend fire his weapon. In addition, a shell casing was recovered that matched the gun carried by the man arrested by Ball and his partner, Snelling wrote.
That disagreement meant it was up to a randomly chosen member of the Chicago Police Board to determine whether Snelling met “his burden of overcoming” Kersten’s recommendation.
Former Chicago Police Board member Nanette Doorley was randomly chosen to decide whether to uphold the superintendent’s decision or send the matter to the full police board.
In a four-page ruling, Doorley determined in May 2024 that Snelling had met his burden to overturn Kersten’s recommendation that Ball be fired. That meant Ball faced a suspension of just one day, for failing to turn on his body-worn camera during the incident.
A year and a half later, Snelling moved to fire Ball for firing his gun at another person fleeing a car he and his partner were attempting to stop.
WTTW News coverage of policing and police reform is supported by The Joyce Foundation.
Contact Heather Cherone: @HeatherCherone | (773) 569-1863 | [email protected]
