The legal battle over the death of a 13-year-old boy in a dark Little Village alleyway just took a drastic turn into a federal courtroom.
Attorney Adeena Weiss Ortiz moved the fight to hold the city of Chicago and Officer Eric Stillman accountable on Thursday by officially refiling a wrongful death lawsuit in federal court.
This unexpected pivot comes roughly a month after the family dropped their original Cook County Circuit Court lawsuit just as it was teetering on the edge of a highly anticipated jury trial.
The scene told a completely different story from what city attorneys originally prepared to defend in local courts.
Here is the reality of the new legal strategy: the federal filing bypasses previous local gridlock and hits the Chicago Police Department with a devastating accusation regarding its background checks.
The federal lawsuit directly accuses the city of systemic negligence, claiming administrators hired Stillman despite knowing he suffered from pre-existing health issues including post-traumatic stress disorder and physical hand tremors.
Lawyers for Elizabeth and Marco Toledo argue these specific medical conditions made the officer entirely unfit for active police service long before he pulled his trigger.
The fatal encounter itself remains a deeply painful wound for the tight-knit community surrounding 24th Street and Sawyer Avenue.
It was early morning on March 29, 2021, when gunfire echoed near a local neighborhood church, drawing the attention of patrolling officers.
Stillman and his partner responded to the area, encountering the teenager and 21-year-old Ruben Roman standing on a dim street corner.
The two suspects fled instantly, prompting a rapid foot chase into a nearby paved alleyway where the deadly confrontation unfolded in a matter of seconds.
Body camera footage later revealed that exactly 838 milliseconds passed between the moment the young teenager dropped a handgun and the moment Stillman fired a single bullet into his chest.
Slowing the video down frame by frame shows the child starting to toss the firearm behind a wooden fence before turning around to comply with loud verbal commands.
When the officer pulled his trigger, the video clearly shows the 13-year-old holding his empty hands high in the air.
The shooting sparked massive street protests across the city, igniting furious demands for the police department to completely ban dangerous foot pursuits.
The Civilian Office of Police Accountability investigated the incident and explicitly recommended in 2022 that the city fire Stillman for using excessive, disproportionate force.
Former Police Superintendent David Brown openly rejected that harsh recommendation, suggesting a maximum suspension of only five days instead.
The resulting disciplinary standoff remains entirely frozen while the Illinois Supreme Court determines whether accused officers can bypass the Chicago Police Board through private arbitration.
Former Cook County State’s Attorney Kim Foxx also declined to file criminal charges against the officer, ruling his fear of imminent danger was legally reasonable given the rapid timeline.
Stillman currently remains on the municipal payroll as an inactive employee, meaning he is barred from patrolling Chicago neighborhoods and does not receive a paycheck.
For local families walking past the colorful memorial murals painted on the brick walls of Little Village, the legal maneuvering offers little immediate comfort.
Community advocates continue to remind parents that true neighborhood safety relies heavily on transparent de-escalation training and strictly adhering to modern foot pursuit rules.
Residents are urged to stay vigilant during late-night hours, report suspicious activity near neighborhood landmarks immediately, and participate in local safety forums to push for systemic police reform.
The city’s Law Department has officially declined to comment on the active federal litigation, but taxpayers are already watching the legal bills climb past two million dollars as a new chapter of this heartbreaking Chicago story begins.
