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LeGrier Family Attorney: Chicago Cop's Counterclaim "Pure Fantasy"

CHICAGO (CBS) -- The attorney for the family of Quintonio LeGrier exclaimed, "First you shoot them, then you sue them" after hearing what the officer who killed the teen describes what happened that night.

He calls the officer's account, "pure fantasy," reports CBS 2's Suzanne Le Migot reports.

In a counterclaim against the estate of Quintonio LeGrier, Officer Robert Rialmo says he feared LeGrier was going to kill him. Rialmo says he had no choice but to shoot LeGrier. Rialmo also says he never saw neighbor Bettie Jones. She was blocked from view by a bat-wielding LeGrier.

"Quintonio LeGrier forced him to take both LeGrier's life and the life of an innocent person, Bettie Jones," said Joel Brodsky, Rialmo's attorney. "That's what's causing him the distress."

LeGrier family attorney Basileios Foutris said, "If he's such a delicate flower, he shouldn't be in the police department….You should be prepared to handle something like this and if you're not prepared to handle a situation like this, get off the police force."

The officer's counterclaim seeks between $50,000 and $1 million from the teen's estate on the grounds of emotional distress.

"First you shoot them, then you sue them," Foutris said. "Is that the new standard for the Chicago Police Department?"

Foutris says it is "nonsense" because, "we've gotten photographs, we've gotten video, nothing at all substantiates anything that's in that counterclaim."

Foutris says the counterclaim is "pure fantasy," which Brodsky disputes.

"All of the forensics say that their version of events is the fantasy," Brodsky said.

Reached by phone today, Quintonio LeGrier's mother says her son was the victim, not Officer Rialmo. She calls the counterclaim, in her words, "disrespectful," adding her son called for help and the person who came to help, killed him.

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