Motion for sanction against mom of man killed by cop officially withdrawn

A motion to sanction the mother of a 25-year-old man shot to death by a police officer last year has been officially withdrawn with the help of the city’s corporation counsel.

Attorneys for Officer George Hernandez filed the motion on Dec. 10, claiming Dorothy Holmes had threatened Hernandez and his children.

“She is inciting violence against them. And she has also made clear that she does not intend to stop,” the filing said.

Hours after Holmes learned Hernandez wouldn’t be criminally charged in the shooting of her son, Ronald Johnson, she spoke publicly about the officer at a protest on Dec. 8: “I love my kid just as well as he loves his 15-year-old and his 17-year-old. What goes around comes around. And he can take it how he wanna take it. If he wanna take it as a threat, it was a threat. And I ain’t backing down,” she said.

The filing also claimed Holmes took a picture of Hernandez during a deposition on Nov. 19 and posted it on Facebook and Twitter, calling him a “terrorist.”

The city’s Department of Law on Wednesday said the motion was filed by Hernandez’s independently appointed attorneys, who did not consult the city about the filing.

“An outside, independent attorney hired to represent Officer George Hernandez filed this motion without the awareness or consent of the city after certain statements and actions caused Officer Hernandez to be concerned about his and his family’s safety,” city Department of Law spokesman Bill McCaffrey said in a statement. “After learning of the motion last night [Tuesday], Corporation Counsel Steve Patton immediately intervened to help both sides reach an amicable resolution. As a result, the motion has been withdrawn and the matter has been resolved to both parties’ satisfaction.”

Holmes’ attorney Michael Oppenheimer on Tuesday said the issue had already been addressed in federal court. He told the judge he admonished Holmes and told the judge she would no longer be speaking out about Hernandez.

Oppenheimer defended Holmes’ words, which he said were spoken just after learning that no criminal charges had been filed against Hernandez. He said Holmes was “clearly upset and distraught.”

A video of Johnson’s death, which was released to the public on Dec. 7, shows a foot chase that ended in the muzzle flashes of Hernandez’s gun. Johnson was shot twice in the back.

The shooting happened just eight days before Laquan McDonald was shot to death by a Chicago Police officer. The outcry over McDonald’s death helped bring attention to Johnson’s death and the dashcam video.