Dashonn Maggette will finally get his day in court next week.
In courtroom 504 at the Leighton Criminal Courthouse, his trial involving two police officers will take place under a judge, a former cop, who has kept a ballistic tests report sealed from the media and public for the last six years, while Maggette has languished in Cook County Jail.
When the proceedings begin on June 12 with jury selection, Maggette’s attorney Karin Talwar, will do something many public defenders don’t do for their clients at 26th and California. Instead of urging Maggette to plead guilty to receive a lighter punishment, Talwar is taking the case before a jury trial that will decide whether her client is guilty of attempted murder when he allegedly shot a police officer during a scuffle in a Chatham apartment building hallway in 2017.
Maggette was charged with attempted murder, aggravated battery with a weapon and aggravated battery with great bodily harm to an officer.
Since then, Talwar has been building the defense for Maggette’s case. She and Maggette will go up against a criminal justice system notoriously known for its delays, overly used plea deals that prevent many cases from going to trial, and unethical behavior forcing innocent men to plead guilty. But Talwar and Maggette will also battle prosecutors who will use the testimony of arresting officers Patrick Forbes and Michael Hudson, the two Chicago police officers involved, who gave different accounts of the shooting.
In recent years, both Forbes and Hudson have received complaints of civil rights violations from residents while policing Chicago’s neighborhoods.
According to data the Crusader obtained from the Civilian Office of Police Accountability (COPA) through the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA), Forbes since 2017 has received five civilian complaints, including two that occurred on the same day.
One complaint involves allegations of Forbes and eight Chicago officers using excessive force in arresting a Black man, as they repeatedly punched and kicked him before breaking his right hand. COPA agreed with one complaint and reprimanded Forbes, but there are no documents that show what discipline Forbes received.
The Injustice Watch’s Citizens’ Police Data Project (CPDP) shows Forbes has six complaints of using excessive force.
COPA data also shows Hudson has received four civilian complaints since 2017, including one still under investigation.
COPA found no wrongdoing in the majority of the civilian complaints against Forbes and Hudson. But COPA and its past civilian police agency have often been accused of not doing enough to address allegations of police misconduct from officers patrolling Black and minority neighborhoods.
In all civilian complaints against Forbes, the residents are Black. In one incident on May 1, 2018, Forbes and another officer, Paul Gentile, stopped a Black man after he ran a STOP sign. According to the COPA complaint, Forbes approached the vehicle, removed the man from it, and placed him in handcuffs. Officer Gentile then searched the vehicle.
The man was subsequently released without any traffic citation. The man repeatedly called 911 to place a complaint. When he couldn’t get a supervisor, the man visited the 5th District police station to file his complaint in person. After being accused of talking loudly, he was escorted out of the building. His complaint was logged the following day, according to COPA.
In reviewing the complaint, COPA agreed with the man’s allegation, saying Forbes and Gentile each failed to provide an investigatory stop receipt to the man.
The stop receipt states that “the officers are to provide an individual with a completed receipt, which includes the officers’ names and star numbers, event number and the reason for the stop, when an investigatory stop involves a pat-down or other search; and no other document reflects the reason for the detention.”
According to COPA, Forbes admitted he made no attempt to give the man a receipt. He cited the man’s behavior as well as the ongoing investigation of the stop as reasons why he did not provide the man a receipt. COPA said there was no immediate urgency that required Officers Forbes and Gentile to exit the scene before providing the man with the required receipt.
In another complaint, on May 17, 2019, Forbes, Officers Emile Domer and Mark Mizera, Jr., were accused of conducting a traffic stop on a Black man without justification. The man alleged that Officer Domer conducted an improper search of his vehicle and damaged his vehicle, both without justification. Following its investigation, COPA did not reach sustained findings regarding any of the allegations before closing the complaint.
Perhaps the most disturbing of Forbes’ five complaints is the one that occurred on October 7, 2016. The exact address is redacted on the report. The only details disclosed are the allegations of a Black man who said Forbes and eight officers used excessive force in arresting him by repeatedly punching and kicking and breaking his right hand.
According to a memorandum, COPA made repeated attempts to interview the man, but his lawyer objected. After being made aware of the May 18, 2018, deadline to be interviewed, COPA closed the case after the man did not respond.
On August 2, Forbes received two complaints for separate alleged incidents.
The first incident occurred at an address that was redacted in the report. According to COPA, a resident said, “Forbes got into an altercation over a vehicle, began to racially profile my brother and told him to step out of the vehicle; further argument ensued and [Forbes] used overly aggressive force to wrongfully handcuff, wrestle, and then interrogate my older brother.”
In a second report filed August 2, Forbes and two officers were accused of using excessive force when they arrested a man at 1268 W. 73rd Place in Englewood. The officers were also accused of misleading the individuals who called the police on how long the man would be in jail before being released. COPA said the man reported injuries that were not documented when he was at the hospital before the arrest.
COPA found no wrongdoing in five of the six complaints. And the CPDP database shows Forbes during his 10-year career on the force received 25 honorable mentions and was named Police Officer of the Month in 2014. The year before, Forbes was honored with an Attendance Recognition Award, according to the CPDP.
With four civilian complaints, Hudson’s record is less spotty. But on March 17, 2021, Hudson and two police officers pulled over a resident who had just left the house. The location of the alleged incident was redacted in the report.
The resident’s car had been identified as the vehicle involved in a shooting that just occurred. The resident said one of the officers came to the car with his gun out and cocked, “threatening to kill me if I moved,” while the car was still in drive. The resident didn’t identify which officer made the threat.
The resident said in the report that meanwhile the other officer “told me to park it and spotted a weapon I had, which I am a CCL holder, and things went left after my weapon was spotted. After having eight police cars surround me and my girlfriend and finding that I was not the suspect, police then attempted to take my girlfriend and charge her with a weapon that was not hers.”
Two years later, that complaint is still under investigation.
In another complaint involving Hudson, on August 13, 2017, a woman at a redacted address in a report said she and Hudson had a “verbal altercation” and felt something “hit the back of head.” The woman also alleged the officer punched her. COPA found no wrongdoing and closed the complaint.
According to the CPDP, Hudson has been on the force since 2015. Since that time Hudson has received three honorable mentions on the job.
Forbes’ and Hudson’s law enforcement careers in Chicago connected on June 3, 2017. Dashonn Maggette and several friends were hanging out outside an apartment building in the 8100 block of S. Maryland when a police cruiser drove by Maggette, who was violating his curfew after completing parole for a drug conviction in 2016, ran into an apartment building.
Forbes and Hudson followed him up several flights of stairs. A scuffle occurred between Maggette and Hudson in the building’s third floor landing. Forbes fires three shots. Maggette was injured with three gunshot wounds in the elbow, shoulder and back, and he’s taken to Cook County Stroger Hospital for treatment. Hudson was shot in the hand and was treated at Advocate Christ Medical Center in Oak Lawn. Forbes remained unharmed.
Forbes and Hudson differed in their accounts of the incident in separate interviews with COPA following the shooting. COPA interviewed Forbes on June 8, 2017. Hudson was interviewed months later on October 11, 2017.
According to COPA, Forbes said he and Hudson were on routine patrol in the vicinity of 8100 S. Maryland when they observed a group of unknown men drinking out of clear plastic cups in the public way. Officer Forbes believed that the individuals were drinking alcohol, so he exited the vehicle to conduct a field interview.
As Forbes exited the vehicle, he saw Maggette run toward the building at 8152 S. Maryland. Forbes told COPA he did not recall Hudson’s exact location during the chase, but he knew he was somewhere behind him. When Forbes entered the building, he observed Maggette running up the stairs. Forbes said he kept losing sight of Maggette each time he went up a flight of stairs.
Forbes said when Maggette finally reached the top floor, he had nowhere else to go. At this time, Maggette reached toward his waistband and began running back toward the officers. Forbes said he and Hudson began to struggle with Maggette to gain control of him. Forbes said he was in front of Maggette on his right shoulder while Hudson was behind Maggette with both his arms wrapped around his upper torso.
Forbes described that all three of them were crouching/kneeling rather than standing upright. Then Forbes told COPA he saw Maggette remove a black semi-automatic weapon from the front of his waistband and fired it once.
Forbes said he saw Maggette get up and run down the stairs. Forbes said his gun jammed, so he quickly cleared his weapon and pursued Maggette down the stairs, while Hudson remained in the stairwell after being shot in the hand. Forbes said he caught Maggette while they were still in the stairwell, at which time they began fighting.
Forbes described the fight as them grabbing, tossing, and punching each other. Forbes said he and Maggette then rolled down at least one flight of stairs to the first floor. Forbes said he was able to get to his feet and stand in front of the exit of the building. Forbes told COPA Maggette then quickly ran toward Forbes. As they collided into each other, Maggette was able to get past him and continued running out the building.
Forbes said once Maggette exited the building, he ran north on Maryland toward 80th Street. Forbes briefly ran south to get the address of the building, to request backup officers on the radio, and then ran north to apprehend Maggette.
Forbes continued his pursuit of Maggette who was crossing the street, running through gangways and attempting to hop fences. Forbes said he finally was able to catch up with Maggette and they began punching each other. Before this physical encounter, Forbes placed his weapon into his holster. Forbes was able to get Maggette to the ground, at which time he laid on top of him until assist units arrived on the scene. When additional officers arrived to assist, they completed the arrest of Maggette.
Officer Forbes stated he did not know that Maggette had been shot until he saw him attempt to scale a fence. Forbes said the gun Maggette allegedly used to shoot Hudson was recovered from inside 8152 S. Maryland.
Outside the building, a witness recorded the chaotic situation as it unfolded under dark skies. The cell phone video, obtained by the Crusader, tells a different story that raises question of Forbes’ account outside the building.
The video shows Maggette running slowly as he was being chased by officers. In his account, Forbes claimed he didn’t know Maggette was shot despite Maggette’s blood-stained T-shirt. And while Forbes claimed Maggette ran north on Maryland toward 80th Street, his longtime childhood friend, Daniel Jones, told the Crusader Maggette stayed near the building and did not attempt to hop the fence.
The cell video shows the camera on Maggette the entire time during the situation outside the building. The recording doesn’t show Maggette running north or attempting to jump a fence.
Forbes also claims that he and Maggette were punching each other, but the cell phone video shows an officer striking Maggette in the head with a flashlight outside the front door of the building. Maggette then hits the officer back before he stumbles on the fence. Meanwhile police sirens are heard as back-up officers arrive on the scene.
The officer who hit Maggette with his flashlight returns to the front yard where he and Maggette briefly fight. Maggette collapses and falls to the ground as a witness shouts, “Don’t shoot ‘em!”
As Maggette lay motionless in the grass, another witness yelled, “Don’t shoot ‘em! We’re recording that sh–!” The other witness repeats his plea, “Don’t shoot ‘em man!”
While Maggette is on the ground, one officer just arriving on the scene asks, “Is he shot?” while another officer appears to be on Maggette’s back as he’s lying on the ground.
The other witness says, “yeah y’all shot ‘em man!”
Hudson’s account of the incident is similar to Forbes’. Hudson added that he observed Forbes and Maggette on the floor landing. Maggette eluded Officer Forbes and ran down the stairs toward him. Hudson said as Maggette had his hands near his waistband area, he grabbed Maggette by the collar (Maggette was wearing a T-shirt) with both his hands and said, “Chicago Police. Stop.”
Hudson said that’s when he and Maggette fell on the third-floor landing. Officer Hudson indicated that he fell on his back and on top of him as officer Forbes remained standing (in his account, Forbes said all three were kneeling in the crouching position).
Hudson said he ordered Maggette to stop moving and to give up his hands.
According to Hudson, Maggette was reaching toward his front waistband with his right hand. Hudson said he also reached for the front of Maggette’s waistband with his left hand and “felt the pressure, what would be flush against my hand, of a weapon.” Hudson said he reached over Maggette’s body and put his left hand on the barrel of the gun. Hudson said that is when Maggette fired the weapon into Officer Hudson’s left hand, striking the middle of the hand between the thumb and the wrist.
COPA in its report said the building where the shooting occurred had two security cameras that show two different camera angles. One camera points toward the entrance of the location, and the other camera captures the activity in the vestibule of the apartment building. Neither camera angle recorded the shooting, which occurred on the third floor of the building.
There were no other eyewitnesses to the shooting incident. COPA said it “could not locate any video or other evidence refuting the version of events as Officers Forbes and Hudson described them. Officers Forbes’ and Hudson’s statements were materially consistent with each other and with available evidence. For all these reasons, COPA has no reason to question the credibility of Officers Forbes or Hudson.”
Maggette, during a telephone interview with the Crusader, said he did not have a gun and thus did not shoot Hudson as the two officers claim. He said Forbes fired three shots, two of which hit Maggette while the other one hit Hudson in the hand.
Maggette believes the officers planted the gun at the scene to frame him while he was on parole for a drug conviction. Maggette said when Talwar, his public defender told him last year that a ballistics test report ruled out the gun he allegedly had, he filed a FOIA request. He later learned that Judge Lawrence Flood, who according to the CPDP once served as a Chicago police officer for 14 years, kept the gun report document sealed for six years so that he, the media and public could not view it.
