Antoine Watkins | Homicide Watch Chicago

Lawsuit: Chicago Police disregarded orders to stop chase that led to death of Dillan Harris

Jeff Mayes — Thu, 23 Jul 2015 09:40:42 -0500

By SAM CHARLES
Chicago Sun-Times Wire

The mother of a 13-month-old Dillan Harris, who was fatally run down by a vehicle fleeing police earlier this month, is suing 20 unnamed officers involved in the chase, alleging they disregarded orders to stop the pursuit that ultimately claimed her son’s life.

Dillan Harris

Shatrelle McComb filed the suit Wednesday in Cook County Circuit Court on behalf of Dillan.

About 1:45 p.m. July 11, McComb was standing at a bus stop near 63rd and Ellis with Dillan in a stroller and his two older sisters close by. They were heading to 63rd Street Beach.

Meanwhile, officers were chasing a vehicle driven by Antoine Watkins, who was also named as a defendant. Police say the vehicle was fleeing a fatal shooting that occurred minutes earlier in the 7700 block of South Kingston and left 22-year-old Marvin “Capo” Carr dead.

According to the suit, the pursuing officers reached speeds of 60 to 70 mph as they chased Watkins.

The pursuit eventually led to 63rd Street. Watkins, driving westbound, jumped the curb and ran over Dillan as the child was in the stroller, dragging his body into a nearby vacant lot, the suit stated.

“Shatrelle McComb watched her 13-month-old son get run over by Antoine Watkins’s vehicle, and then saw him covered in blood and he lied on the ground motionless,” the suit stated.

Dillan was pronounced dead at University of Chicago Comer Children’s Hospital at 2:45 p.m., according to the Cook County medical examiner’s office.

VIDEO OF LAWSUIT PRESS CONFERENCE

McComb alleges that, had the officers chasing Watkins heeded their orders, her son would still be alive.

“Upon information and belief, the Office of Emergency Management and Communications and/or Chicago Police Department Supervisors allegedly instructed Doe Officers 1-20 in pursuit of Antoine Watkins’s vehicle to stop the chase,” the suit stated.

The officers “recklessly engaged in a high speed chase which caused the vehicle pursued to strike Dillan Harris,” the suit stated.

The City of Chicago was also named as a defendant.

In an emailed statement Wednesday night, Chicago Law Department spokesman John Holden said the fault for Dillan’s death lays solely with Watkins.

“We have not had an opportunity to review this suit and therefore cannot comment in detail. However, while we are deeply saddened by this tragic event, there is no evidence to suggest that anyone other than Antoine Watkins is responsible for this incident,” Holden said.

According to the Chicago Police Department’s directive concerning pursuits, a chase can be started only if “the necessity to immediately apprehend the fleeing suspect outweighs the level of inherent danger created by a motor vehicle pursuit.”

The directive goes on to say that “all members involved in or supervising a motor vehicle pursuit must be prepared to justify their actions.”

The six-count lawsuit alleges wrongful death/willful and wanton conduct and intentional infliction of emotional distress against the city and 20 officers. It also alleges negligence, intentional infliction of emotional distress and negligent infliction of emotional distress against Watkins, who is currently being held without bail at the Cook County Jail.

The suit seeks more than $300,000 in damages.

Baby Dillan's funeral: 'The hurt. Oh Lord, the hurt.'

Jeff Mayes — Mon, 20 Jul 2015 09:31:36 -0500

By BECKY SCHLIKERMAN
Chicago Sun-Times

Dillan Harris was buried Saturday in a tiny white coffin.

A mourner at Dillan Harris' funeral wears a memorial button. | Becky Schlikerman/Sun-Times

The 13-month-old wore a white suit as his family celebrated his short life.

A week after little Dillan was run-down by a man fleeing a South Shore shooting, about 500 family, friends and loved ones gathered at Gatling’s Chapel on the city’s South Side.

They wept as they viewed the baby’s body, unable to comprehend why the smiley baby became an innocent victim of Chicago’s violence. A nurse was on hand to make sure people weren’t overcome.

Though he wasn’t killed in a shooting, Dillan, known as “Dill Pickle,” was run over as he sat in his stroller, waiting with his family to head to the beach.

Authorities allege Antoine Watkins was driving a car that was fleeing a fatal shooting in the 7700 block of South Kingston that claimed the life of 22-year-old rapper Marvin “Capo” Carr. Watkins has been charged with murder in Dillan’s death.

Dillan’s parents, grandparents, siblings and a host of uncles, aunts and cousins sat in the front rows, most wearing white. They did not speak during the service but wrote in the funeral program, which was decorated with Mickey Mouse: “Baby Dillan will forever be in our hearts.”

“The hurt. Oh Lord, the hurt. I know of no hurt like that of a child taken in death,” the Rev. Neil Redd told mourners, adding: “Only the Lord knows why he would take a child. He may or he may not give a reason to us. Don’t be angry with God. It hurts so bad because we don’t understand.”

“Why he would choose to allow this to happen? He knows the purpose.”

In the impassioned eulogy, Redd quoted heavily from scripture and electrified the crowd when he said: “When babies die, they go straight to heaven. Hallelujah!”

The pastor said he called the baby, “Deacon Dillan” as the baby was attentive in church and showed a wisdom beyond his years.

“When I first met the boy — when he came into this world —I looked into his eyes and we just shared a bond right away,” Redd said. “Such joy he brought into our lives. Every time you saw him he was smiling.”

And though the service was focused on the baby’s religious salvation, the pastor ended his eulogy by calling attention to the senseless violence.

“If one act of violence can cause this type of love in this place for these families,” Redd said, “think of what this love can do for the city of Chicago.”

Rev. Plefeger not impressed with Chief Keef's planned benefit concert, tell rapper to 'shut up'

Jeff Mayes — Tue, 14 Jul 2015 10:53:37 -0500

Chief Keef (left) and the Rev. Michael Pfleger

By MITCH DUDEK and STEFANO ESPOSITO
Chicago Sun-Times

Forget the concert. Send a check instead.

That’s Father Michael Pfleger’s response to rapper Chief Keef’s plan to hold a concert in memory of a rapper friend slain in gun violence over the weekend, as well as a toddler who died in the aftermath.

Earlier Monday, Pfleger had an even more blunt message for the rapper on his Facebook page: “SHUT UP!!!!!”

“Chief Keef has announced that he will hold a benefit concert to raise funds for his friend and the Baby who were killed this past weekend….REALLY…Chief Keef is one of the reasons we have all this violence…he has been one of the encourager’s of the Violence,” wrote the outspoken pastor who has taken to the pulpit and the streets to fight gun violence.

“Instead of having a concert…why doesn’t he Man Up and acknowledge it’s time to stop this violence and Apologize for his part in it!!!! we don’t need a concert…we need PEACE……7 DEAD and 24 SHOT this weekend and he wants to do a concert…..Chief Keef….SHUT UP!!!!!” the post ends.

Within five hours of the post being put up on Facebook, it had more than 400 likes.

Later Monday, Pfleger branded Keef a hypocrite for this week announcing the formation of a new anti-violence foundation, while embracing violence through his music.

“That’s great, but unless you are going to say, I’m going to stop making music that glorifies violence, then you are hypocritical,” Pfleger told the Chicago Sun-Times. “What are you going to do at the concert? Your music is promoting and glorifying [violence]. Just send a check.”

Pfleger said the rapper could be a “very strong voice for peace. But the question is, does he have the courage to be the voice for peace?”

Keef announced over the weekend he would have the free concert this Friday night but can’t appear in person — because of a warrant connected to his failure to pay child support. Records show he owes $14,613.

So the rapper will appear via hologram from the West Coast during a concert on the back of a flatbed truck that will be parked in a warehouse or parking lot somewhere in Chicago.

Keef, whose real name is Keith Cozart, decided to put on the show after hearing about the South Side shooting and car chase on the that led to the deaths of his friend Marvin Carr, known as rapper Capo, and 13-month-old Dillan Harris, who was fatally struck by a car being chased by police after Carr’s shooting.

On Monday, police charged Antoine Watkins, 21, of the 8100 block of South Bennett, with murder in the toddler’s death. Watkins appeared in court Monday, where he was ordered held without bond and a woman yelled at him from the gallery: “You killed my baby!”

Keef was moved by the deaths and “wants to speak out against all the violence,” said Owen Phillips, a spokesman for Alki David, the Greek billionaire owner of HologramUSA and FilmOn, who recently signed the rapper and is orchestrating the show. “It’s something new in Keef’s music that he’s trying to express.”

Phillips said the truck with the technology to project Chief Keef’s hologram is currently being driven to Chicago from California.

He will perform on a Beverly Hills stage owned by HologramUSA, Phillips said. The rapper recently signed a two-album deal with David’s FilmOn, an online television streaming company.

Phillips said Chief Keef can’t physically be in Chicago to perform because his legal team is addressing an outstanding warrant.

The warrant against Chief Keef, who grew up in Englewood and has a history of gun and drug charge, stems from allegations that he hasn’t paid child support, according to a spokeswoman for the Cook Country Sheriff’s Department. The warrant does not allow the rapper to be extradited to Illinois from California. It’s enforceable only in Illinois, she said.

Money collected at the concert will be donated to Chicago charities and the victims’ families. Keef and FilmOn’s owner will match the money that’s raised.

Phillips also announced Keef’s new anti-violence foundation, Stop The Violence Now, but could provide no details.

—Chicago SUn-Times and Chicago Sun-Times Wire

Chief Keef to perform benefit concert for child and friend killed on South Side

Jeff Mayes — Mon, 13 Jul 2015 09:54:30 -0500

By REEMA AMIN
Chicago Sun-Times Wire

Rapper Chief Keef will appear via hologram in Chicago on Friday to perform a free concert after hearing about a Saturday shooting and car chase that led to the deaths of his friend Marvin Carr and 13-month-old boy Dillan Harris on the South Side.

Chief Keep will perform a benefit for a baby and fellow rapper killed over the weekend, but he will do it by hologram because of outstanding warrants in Chicago. | Sun-Times Media

A time and location for the concert are still not set, but Keef’s hologram will appear in a Chicago location as he performs on a Beverly Hills stage owned by Hologram USA, according to a statement from Owen Phillips, spokesman for FilmOn Networks. The rapper recently signed a two-album deal with FilmOn, an online television streaming company.

“He loves his hometown Chicago but cannot attend due to outstanding warrants his legal team is addressing,” according to the statement.

The statement said Keef was “moved by the news” of the shooting death of Carr, known as rapper Capo, and 13-month-old Dillan, who was fatally struck by a car being chased by police after the incident.

About 1:45 p.m. Saturday, police say a car sped away from the scene of a shooting in the 7700 block of South Kingston in South SHore that left 22-year-old Carr, a member of Chief Keef’s “Glo Gang,” dead.

Dillan was struck and killed minutes later in Woodlawn by a car that had fled the scene, authorities and family members said.

“I tried to save my baby,” the boy’s mother said, adding the family was heading to 63rd Street Beach. She was at a bus stop at 63rd and Ellis shortly before 2 p.m. Saturday with her three kids.

“All of a sudden, they swerved and hit a pole and hit my baby,” said the mother, who didn’t want to be identified.

The boy died at the University of Chicago Comer Children’s Hospital.

Carr had recently returned from a recording session in Los Angeles, according to a family friend, Renaldo Hess.

“He was a good kid. The streets of Chicago is something else,” Hess said. “He was murdered. I don’t understand what is going on with all these kids.”

Antoine Watkins, 21, has been charged with murder for driving the car that struck Dillan. Police are still investigating the shooting.

Funds collected at the concert will be donated to Chicago charities and the victims’ families, the statement said. Keef and FilmOn’s owner, Alki David, who also owns Hologram USA, will match the money that’s raised.

The statement also announced Keef’s new anti-violence foundation, Stop The Violence Now. Owens did not have additional information about the charity.

Antoine Watkins charged with murder for running down 1-year-old Dillan Harris

Jeff Mayes — Mon, 13 Jul 2015 09:31:25 -0500

A 21-year-old man has been charged with murder after 13-month-old Dillan Harris was run down by a vehicle fleeing a deadly gang shooting Saturday afternoon in the Woodlawn neighborhood on the South Side.

Marvin Watkins | Chicago Police

Antoine Watkins faces one count of murder with a strong probability of death or injury, a felony, according to Chicago Police.

Watkins, of the 8100 block of South Bennett, was arrested in connection with Dillan's death after police saw him driving a car matching the description of the vehicle that fatally struck the boy about 1:45 p.m. Saturday, authorities said.

Dillan’s mother had been standing on the sidewalk, waiting at a bus stop at 63rd and Ellis with her three kids—Dillan, who was in a stroller, and his two older sisters. On a warm day, they were headed for a family outing at 63rd Street Beach.

That’s when the westbound car, which Chicago Police said was fleeing a fatal shooting in the 7700 block of South Kingston that claimed the life of 22-year-old Marvin “Capo” Carr, raced up.

“All of a sudden, they swerved and hit a pole and hit my baby,” said the mother, who declined to give her name.

She said she tried to push all of her kids out of the way but didn’t have enough time to get the 13-month-old clear of the danger.

Dillan was taken to Comer Children’s Hospital, where he was pronounced dead at 2:45 p.m., according to the Cook County medical examiner’s office. An autopsy Sunday ruled his death an accident.

Watkins sped away in the vehicle but was later taken into custody, police said. He was also charged with one misdemeanor count of fleeing or attempting to elude police, and cited for failure to carry or display a driver’s license and operating a vehicle without insurance.

Watkins was scheduled to appear in bond court Monday.

—Chicago Sun-Times Wire and Chicago Sun-Times