Mother of woman slain in convenience store charged with kicking officer in hospital

The mother of an 18-year-old woman fatally shot Tuesday in an Avalon Park convenience store has been charged with kicking a police officer at the University of Chicago Medical Center.

Officers were trying to clear the emergency room about 10 p.m. when Nyisha Beemon, 35, allegedly pushed an officer from behind, grabbed his vest and kicked him, Chicago police said in a statement.

Beemon was reportedly not allowed to view the body of her daughter, Jaya Beemon, who was fatally shot that night at the convenience store, according to news reports. Three gunmen opened fire on someone inside the store, killing her and wounding four other people.

Nyisha Beemon is charged with two misdemeanor counts of battery and resisting an officer, police said.

Attempts to reach Nyisha Beemon were unsuccessful.

In a statement, the ACLU of Illinois condemned the officer’s use of force.

“It is puzzling and disconcerting that a police officer — a trained professional who should be able to de-escalate a tense situation — chose the worst moment of Jaya’s mother’s life to arrest her,” ACLU of Illinois’s staff attorney Elizabeth Jordan said in a statement.

“No grieving mother should face arrest in the hospital where her child’s body has been taken,” she said.

Jaya Beemon was studying for an associate degree in health care at Malcolm X College, according to Chicago City Colleges spokeswoman Katheryn Hayes.

Chicago police spokesman Anthony Guglielmi said the department will review the circumstances of the arrest and the concerns of the ACLU.

“We can’t imagine the amount of grief that the family is going through and we extend our deepest condolences,” Guglielmi said in an emailed statement. “Detectives are working around the clock on this horrific act of gun violence and we’ve gotten positive leads from area surveillance video.”