COP SHOOTING STORY CHANGES; MAY AFFECT WORKER'S COMP

A Harvey police detective who was shot earlier this month was off-duty and
leaving a popular nightspot, contrary to reports after the incident that he
was working and shot in retaliation for being part of a special narcotics
unit, police said Monday.

"It was confusing that day. We got a call that an officer was down and
there was another shooting at another location," said Sgt. Joseph Thomas,
the lead investigator on the case. "There was a lot of confusion, and bad
information may have gotten out."

The injured officer, Detective Marcus Ellison, 27, was recently released
from Christ Hospital and Medical Center in Oak Lawn and remains off-duty
with pay, Thomas said.

According to Thomas, the new scenario would mean that Ellison does not
qualify for worker's compensation because he was not on duty at the time of
the shooting and there is no proof, as of now, to support claims he was
shot as a result of his work.

"We have no suspects, and we don't have any leads," he said. "It's very
frustrating because part of my job is to figure out what happened so we can
decide if it was work-related. I believe that it was, but we have to prove it."

Efforts to reach Ellison and Police Chief Phillip Hardiman for comment
Monday were unsuccessful.

Initially, city officials said Ellison was shot after leaving work in the
early hours of Jan. 6 by a back-seat passenger in a car following the
officer's. Ellison, a three-year member of the Harvey force, was shot three
times.

City officials contended he was shot in retaliation for his work on drug cases.

But Thomas said Monday that Ellison had been off-duty and at the 50 Yard
Line nightclub, which he left around 2:45 a.m. Police officers who work as
security guards at the club remember speaking with Ellison and reported
that he had not been in any altercations in the nightclub that evening,
Thomas said.

After leaving the club, Thomas said Ellison stopped to lend assistance to
officers at the scene of a shooting at Arnie's Idle Hour, an adult club
near 147th Street and Dixie Highway. He stayed a few minutes before heading
home, Thomas said.

"Once he got to 147th and Wood [Streets], a car immediately got on his
bumper.... When he slowed down, the vehicle came up beside him, and
somebody started shooting," Thomas said. "It is possible that someone at
the nightclub saw him and followed him."

A Dixmoor man arrested by the FBI in connection with the shooting last week
was not charged in the case, Thomas said.