Family of man fatally shot during ISP traffic stop in 2020 want trooper charged criminally

The father of a man shot during an Illinois State Police traffic stop in Harvey last year said Thursday he wants the trooper involved in the incident criminally charged.

“He chose to be the jury, the judge and the executioner when he shot my son in the back of the head. He murdered my son. I want justice for my son to the highest power,” Darren Green Sr. told reporters at a news conference on the South Side.

Lawyers for Darren Green Jr. also said the trooper involved in the fatal traffic stop on Oct. 7, 2020, has a history of “stalking” motorists in Harvey for petty traffic offenses. Those lawyers played what they said was a 2013 dashcam video of the trooper who shot Green pulling a middle-aged woman from her car and handcuffing her during a traffic stop for speeding.

“He’s been pulling over motorists for petty traffic incidents and attacking motorists for at least seven to eight years, and the Illinois State Police knew about it; if they didn’t know about it, they should know about it,” attorney Brandon Brown said.

The Green family attorneys wouldn’t say how they acquired the video.

“This video is in the public domain,” said attorney Andre Grant. “We won’t tell you where we got it from, but we did not get it from the Illinois State Police.”

The Chicago Sun-Times is not naming the state police officer because he isn’t officially accused of wrongdoing.

Darren Green Jr. was a passenger in an SUV that was pulled over at 147th and Halsted streets a little after midnight. A dashcam video released by state police shows two troopers stopping the vehicle and asking the woman driver why her headlights weren’t on. A short time later, Green was shot when his gun went off during a struggle that happened inside the car, according to state police.

At the time, state police said its Division of Internal Affairs was investigating the case.

Attorneys for the Green family say there was no struggle for the gun. They say the officer who ultimately shot Green had, just moments before, taken the gun from inside the car and tucked it into his waistband.

Grant, who has filed a lawsuit on behalf of the Green family, said last year that he’d sent letters to Cook County State’s Attorney Kim Foxx and Illinois Attorney General Kwame Raoul requesting independent investigations.

“This matter remains the subject of an active and ongoing review. We are unable to further comment,” a spokeswoman for Foxx’s office said when asked about Grant’s request.

Raoul’s office could not be reached for comment. A request for comment from the state police was not answered.

Darren Green Jr. was 30 when he died. He lived in the city and was the father of an 11-year-old daughter and a 6-year-old son. A third child was born in January.