Chicago, Illinois, personal injury lawyers represented the Plaintiff who sued on an excessive force civil rights violation theory.

This is a tragic case involving a police encounter in the Austin neighborhood of Chicago. Officers Christian Szczur and David Cook responded to a notice
early one morning that a shot had been fired in the area. While investigating the gunshot, they approached Juan Mendez on the front porch of his home. Mendez ran away, and a foot chase ensued. During the chase, Officer Cook warned Officer
Szczur that Mendez had something in his waistband and then in his hand. Mendez fell while running, got up, and looked back at the officers. As he did so, his right arm swung toward them with some sort of object in his right hand. Officer Szczur
made a split-second decision and shot Mendez three times—only about 18 seconds after the foot chase started. The shots left Mendez paralyzed from the waist down, and this action under 42 U.S.C. § 1983 followed.

The district court found no Fourth Amendment violation under the totality of the circumstances and relied on qualified immunity in the alternative.

Affirmed on appeal