Drug Task Force On the Hook for Bad Shooting

By JACK BOUBOUSHIAN
Courthouse News Service
Aug. 06, 2011

CHICAGO (CN) - A federal judge refused to grant immunity to members of a drug task force who are being sued for allegedly shooting a man several times without cause while the man was sitting in his car.

Mycol French was sitting in his white SUV waiting for a friend to return from shopping when several Lake County officers approached the vehicle with guns drawn, according to the complaint filed by the administrator of French's estate, Germaine Nixon.

Without probable cause, the cops allegedly shot into the vehicle several times, piercing French's chest. French tried to flee, but lost control and slammed his car into the side of a building.

French died after the officers prevented paramedics from providing emergency medical treatment, and they also hindered the investigation of the shooting, according to Nixon's lawsuit against several officers and their multi-jurisdiction task force, the Lake County Metropolitan Enforcement Group. Other named defendants include North Chicago, Lake County, its sheriff and the village of Antioch.

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