City Wants Michael LaPorta, Shot And Permanently Disabled By CPD Officer Patrick Kelly, To Testify Against Him
CHICAGO (CBS) -- He's been in a wheelchair for nearly a decade, after being shot in the head by a now suspended Chicago police officer.
But the City of Chicago has spent that time, and millions in taxpayer dollars, fighting to disprove that.
Now, the city wants his help proving the officer did in fact pull the trigger, and lied about it for years. It's a story the CBS 2 Investigators have been on top of since the beginning.
CBS 2 Investigator Megan Hickey reported Wednesday evening on how the City of Chicago continues to pour money into this case.
They city's attorneys took this matter before a Cook County judge Wednesday, asking that Michael LaPorta be required to testify. But his family argues it will be mentally and physically difficult for Mikey, after being shot in the head.
And it's a waste of public resources.
In January of 2010, police were called to Officer Patrick Kelly's home and found Mikey LaPorta with a gunshot wound to the head. Kelly claimed LaPorta had shot himself with the officer's gun in a suicide attempt. It wasn't until 2017 that the case was revisited and investigators found that Kelly had pulled the trigger and then lied about it for nine years.
That's when then-Supt. Eddie Johnson moved to fire him.
"Now they're believe it. But it took this long. Eleven years is a long time for your life to go by. You're 29 and suddenly you're 40," said Patti LaPorta, Michael LaPorta's mother.
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Mikey's mother, Patti LaPorta, proudly shared this video of her son's latest achievement. Standing up. Mikey suffered a traumatic brain injury. The bullet's still lodged in his head. Which is why she says his extensive testimony in 2017 was difficult enough.
"He knows what he wants to say but he can't say it," Patti LaPorta said. "We've gone through it enough. Please, this is enough."
But attorneys for the city on Wednesday argued that there may be some legal complications with using his prior testimony or depositions in this case.
Which is why they're asking him to speak, again, at Kelly's upcoming disciplinary hearing.
"The city wants Mikey LaPorta to help them in terminating one of their worst officers on the police force, but will not pay the judgement that they owe him," said Antonio Romanucci, LaPorta's attorney.
Romanucci is talking about the record-breaking $44.7 million judgment awarded by a federal jury to LaPorta in 2017.
"He hasn't seen one cent of it," Romanucci said.
Kelly's attorneys objected to the police board hearing being conducted over Zoom. Those hearings are scheduled for October 26-30. On Wednesday the Cook County judge essentially kicked the decision to make Mikey testify back to the hearing officer at the police board, said the motion in circuit was "premature."
