Politics
Taxpayers Should Pay Man Struck in Head 3 Times by CPD Officer With His Radio $225K: City Lawyers
An image captured by a Chicago Police Department officer’s body-worn camera shows Officer Michael Donnelly pointing his gun at a man’s head while he is being restrained by other officers. (Civilian Office of Police Accountability)
Taxpayers should pay a man struck in the head three times by a Chicago police officer using his department-issued radio as a weapon $225,000 to resolve his lawsuit, city lawyers recommended.
Former Chicago Police Supt. Larry Snelling and the agency tasked with investigating police misconduct agreed in April that Officer Michael Donnelly should be suspended for 89 days in connection with the conduct that sparked the lawsuit, according to documents published by the Civilian Office of Police Accountability.
Donnelly, who was a member of the Near North (18th) Police District tactical team until a year ago, used excessive force against Lorenzo Williams while trying to detain him and others in July 2024 near Cambridge Avenue and Chestnut Street in Cabrini-Green, a complex operated by the Chicago Housing Authority that sits just west of the Gold Coast, the agency better known as COPA concluded.
Donnelly is no longer listed in the city’s database of active employees, records show. A CPD spokesperson did not respond to a request from WTTW News for an update on his employment status.
The proposed settlement is set to be considered Monday by the Chicago City Council’s Finance Committee. A final vote of the City Council could come on Sept. 23.
The incident began just before 7 p.m. on July 30, 2024, when officers monitoring police cameras observed Williams with an item they believed to be a gun tucked into his jeans, according to COPA’s report. Williams was not identified by COPA, in keeping with its rules, but his name became public when he sued the city.
Donnelly and Officer Joseph Vecchio were among the officers dispatched to the 800 block of Cambridge Avenue and instructed to stop and search Williams, whom officers identified as a convicted felon who was not permitted to possess a weapon, according to COPA’s report.
Vecchio, who has been stripped of his police powers, faces termination for making false statements under oath about two separate traffic stops and is being held in Cook County jail after being charged with a felony count of aggravated domestic battery, records show.
When officers attempted to stop and search Williams, who is Black, he “ran forward into the street” before he fell and officers attempted to restrain him. The incident drew a crowd of onlookers, prompting additional officers to be sent to the incident, according to COPA’s report.
After Donnelly exited a police vehicle, he yelled “I’ll f------ shoot you!” and “I will f------ smoke you!” and pointed his gun at Williams who was on the ground as officers attempted to restrain and search him, according to COPA’s report.
Donnelly holstered his weapon and “attempted to place his foot” on the man’s shoulder, but his foot “appeared to slide off” the man’s shoulder before “briefly making contact with” the man’s “neck before reaching the ground,” according to the report.
While Vecchio held Williams’ head on the ground by his hair and ordered him to stop resisting, “Donnelly struck (the man on the) left side of head three times with a police radio,” according to COPA’s report. “Officer Donnelly unholstered his firearm a second time and leaned over (the man.) Officer Donnelly pointed his firearm at (the man’s) head from a very close distance and told him he was ‘going to get f------ shot.’”
COPA found Vecchio did not violate CPD policy during the incident, records show, although Williams accused Vecchio of ripping his hair out of his head during the altercation.
After Williams was placed in a police vehicle, Donnelly confronted several members of the crowd that had gathered to watch the confrontation, according to COPA’s report.
“Officer Donnelly stood up, yelled ‘Shut the f--- up and get the f--- back!’ and pointed his finger to an unknown woman in the crowd,” according to COPA’s report. “Officer Donnelly can be heard referring to one bystander as a ‘b---- ass mother------.’ Then, Officer Donnelly approached an unknown man who appeared to be recording him and yelled at him. Other officers separated Officer Donnelly and the bystander.”
CPD policy directs officers to “avoid the use of flashlights, radios, firearms, or any items not specifically designed as an impact weapon, unless reasonably necessary and no other practical options are available.”
While Williams was actively trying to resist arrest, he was not attempting to assault officers, according to COPA’s conclusion. Video captured by officers’ body-worn cameras “depicts many officers involved in comprehensively immobilizing (the man) and forcing his head into the pavement,” according to COPA’s report.
Although Donnelly told investigators the man was attempting to use his gun against officers, video captured by officers’ body-worn cameras shows no evidence of that, according to COPA’s report.
Donnelly also violated CPD policy by verbally abusing the man who officers arrested as well as bystanders, according to COPA’s report.
“Members of the public benefit from a blanket entitlement to exercise their First Amendments rights when addressing public servants, even when their comments are critical, unkind or even abusive,” according to COPA’s report.
Donnelly’s actions “brought significant negative attention and discredit upon the department” and “exposed CPD to civil liability,” COPA concluded.
“In this case Officer Donnelly demonstrated an unprofessional inability to regulate his behavior when dealing with members of the public as well as a lack of self-control and discipline in utilizing the correct amount of force,” COPA concluded. “Although Officer Donnelly admitted using profanity against (the man who was arrested) and members of the public at the scene, he did not show remorse and sought to excuse the misconduct.”
Lawyers for the city recommended settling Williams’ lawsuit less than three months after he sued the city, an indication that they believe resolving his claims as quickly as possible will save Chicago taxpayers money.
Chicago taxpayers have paid $7 million to resolve three federal lawsuits alleging misconduct by Donnelly, including the 2019 improper raid of Anjanette Young’s home and a 2017 botched raid during which officers held 5- and 9-year-old children at gunpoint, records show.
The incident involving Williams was part of what COPA identified as a troubling pattern of 50 undocumented and unprofessional stops of Black people in Lincoln Park, West Town, Old Town, River North, Streeterville, the Gold Coast and parts of Logan Square in 2024, records show.
More than 90% of the complaints investigated by COPA were sparked by officers’ decisions to stop Black people, according to a letter sent by COPA to the district’s commander.
Donnelly is named in at least seven pending lawsuits filed by Chicago drivers who said they were improperly stopped and searched by the 18th District tactical team because they are Black, according to an analysis of court records by WTTW News.
City attorneys are negotiating a “global settlement” to resolve 17 lawsuits naming Vecchio, Donnelly and six other members of the tactical team, records show.
Contact Heather Cherone: @HeatherCherone | (773) 569-1863 | [email protected]
WTTW News coverage of policing and police reform is supported by The Joyce Foundation.
