Those damn cops

Lawsuit accuses Chicago cops of false arrest after murder charges dropped against mom, 14-year-old son in shooting at hot dog stand
“Everything I worked hard for has been tarnished,” Carlishia Hood said of her arrest at a news conference Tuesday at her attorney’s law office in Bronzeville.
By Matthew Hendrickson
Jun 27, 2023, 12:28pm CDT




Carlishia Hood attends a press conference at the Bronzeville Law Group Tuesday, June 27, 2023.

A lawsuit accusing Chicago police of false arrest has been filed a day after murder charges were dropped against a mother and her 14-year-old son in the shooting of a man who attacked her at a South Side hot dog stand.

“Everything I worked hard for has been tarnished,” Carlishia Hood said of her arrest at a news conference Tuesday at her attorney’s law office in Bronzeville.

The lawsuit claims Hood was falsely arrested and maliciously prosecuted, causing her to suffer emotional distress. It seeks more than $50,000 in damages.

The suit claims police sought charges against Hood “for which they knew there was no probable cause,” saying video footage of the shooting “completely exculpated Carlishia Hood.”

While the suit contends the arrest was “without legal justification,” it doesn’t address the fact that police sought and received approval for the charges from the Cook County state’s attorney’s office.

The lawsuit repeatedly misspells the name of the man who was killed, Jeremy Brown, 32, referring to him throughout as “Jerome Brown.”

Hood sobbed after giving a statement, and her attorneys said she would take no questions during the news conference.

Hood, 35, had been standing in line for food at a Maxwell Street Express at 11656 S. Halsted St. on June 18 when she became involved in a verbal argument with Brown, 32, prosecutors said when she was charged.

Prosecutors said surveillance video showed Brown punching Hood repeatedly in the head before her 14-year-old son enters the restaurant and shoots Brown. He continued firing as Brown ran into a parking lot while pursued by the boy and his mother, according to prosecutors.

Hood was accused of urging her son to keep shooting Brown and to kill him. She also allegedly told her son to shoot Brown’s girlfriend, who had been egging Brown on during the confrontation.

Hood and her son left and returned home, prosecutors said.

Judge Barbara Dawkins set Hood’s bail at $3 million at a hearing last week where she faced charges of first-degree murder and contributing to the delinquency of a minor.

Hood’s son was also charged with murder in Juvenile Court, as well as weapons violations.

But on Monday, prosecutors announced they were dropping the charges against Hood and her son, citing “emerging evidence” in the case.

Prosecutors did not specify what that evidence was, but the announcement came days after a video apparently recorded by a bystander began circulating on social media.


Defense attorney Ari Williams declined to say why Hood left the scene of the shooting and went home instead of waiting for police to arrive.

“There’s video of this so we don’t have to go into great detail,” Williams said.

Hood and her attorneys repeatedly thanked State’s Attorney Kim Foxx on Tuesday for dropping the dropping the charges, but declined to say if Foxx was personally involved in the decision.

A spokeswoman for the state’s attorney’s office did not immediately respond to questions about Foxx’s role in the decision to approve and then drop the charges.

Attorney Brandon Brown, who filed the lawsuit, repeatedly declined to answer questions about it, saying, “What we don’t want to do is have a nuanced legal discussion here at a press conference.”