COP-LINKED DEATH RULED A HOMICIDE

Police union chief rips timing of medical examiner's report

The Cook County medical examiner's office ruled the death of a West Side man
a homicide Friday, saying he couldn't breathe during a struggle with police
because of pressure placed on his neck and chest.

The ruling in the death of Gregory Riley prompted the Cook County state's
attorney's office to launch an investigation and comes as the Chicago Police
Department continues to try to quell community anger over the recent
shootings of two unarmed motorists.

A police spokesman noted the homicide ruling does not necessarily mean the
officers who struggled with Riley, 31, did anything wrong.

"Keep in mind that all murders are homicides; but all homicides are not
murder," said the spokesman, Pat Camden.

Riley, who weighed nearly 300 pounds, died Monday night following a struggle
with at least two police officers who tried to arrest him on suspicion of
selling narcotics.

Pathologists performing the autopsy found a small bag of cocaine in Riley's
stomach that he apparently swallowed during his encounter with police, as
well as heroin in his bloodstream and other drugs taped to his body,
according to the medical examiner's report.

Police officials have not identified the officers involved in the incident,
but one of them is the son of a recently promoted high-ranking police
official, according to department sources. Both officers have been assigned
to desk duty, Camden said.

Dr. Edmund Donoghue, the Cook County medical examiner, said pressure to
Riley's neck and chest -- presumably by the two officers' arms and bodies
while they tried to arrest him -- caused his death.

The autopsy also found bleeding beneath the scalp on the right side of
Riley's head, bite marks and bleeding on his tongue and what Dongohue called
extensive bleeding in the muscles of the neck, according to a summary of the
autopsy report.

Riley died during a "real struggle, a severe struggle," Donoghue said.

According to police accounts of Riley's death, tactical unit officers from
the Harrison District observed Riley allegedly selling drugs near the 4300
block of West Adams Street around 10 p.m. Monday.

When an onlooker alerted Riley that police were nearby, he began walking
east on Adams. Riley ignored a police order to stop, then put something in
his mouth.

Two officers got out of their vehicle and chased Riley. When one attempted
to arrest him, Riley allegedly hit the officer in the left eye.

That officer wrestled Riley to the ground, handcuffed him and then called
for backup from two other officers, according to department accounts.

Camden denied the officers used a choke-hold to subdue Riley.

Officials said that when one of the officers on the scene tried to place a
second set of handcuffs on Riley, police noticed that he was "unresponsive."
They called for an ambulance, and he was later pronounced dead.

"You had an officer trying to arrest a drug dealer who hit the officer in
the face. There was a struggle and he was in the process of handcuffing the
guy," Camden said. "That's where the investigations will pick up."

Witnesses reported that they saw police beating Riley, and that there was
blood at the scene, but police have denied that any officers struck Riley.
The department's Office of Professional Standards also is investigating the
case.

William J. Nolan, president of the Fraternal Order of Police, criticized
Donoghue and the autopsy and called for an independent exam.

"I think the medical examiner is way off base on this. What an asinine
statement to make -- a homicide," Nolan said. "The guy was dealing drugs,
ran from police, weighed 300 pounds and fought with them."

He suggested that Donoghue was irresponsible for releasing his findings now.

"In this climate, coming out with this, he's just putting fuel on the fire,"
Nolan said.

But Donoghue said other factors did not play a role in Riley's death. The
unbroken bag of cocaine was in Riley's stomach, indicating it did not make
him choke.

The heroin in his system also did not cause his death. Donoghue said that it
could not be determined when Riley, who served three prison terms for
various convictions, had used the drug.

The drugs, he added, "were not a factor."

Nor were Riley's other ailments -- asthma, some indications of the lung
disease emphysema and his obesity, Donoghue said. Riley was 5 feet 9 inches
tall and weighed 293 pounds, according to Donoghue.

"We're confident about the findings and we're sure we would be upheld," he
said, adding that he had "no problem" with an independent autopsy.

Riley's death likely will add to the recent criticism about alleged police
brutality.

The state's attorney's office is already investigating the death of LaTanya
Haggerty, who was shot to death June 4 by a police officer following a
traffic stop and brief chase of the car in which she was riding. The U.S.
Justice Department also is conducting an inquiry into that case as well as
the June 5 fatal shooting by police of Northwestern University student
Robert Russ, which also followed a police chase.

Police Supt. Terry Hillard has acknowledged that officers made procedural
errors in both the Russ and Haggerty shootings. He has criticized officers
for breaking a window of Russ' car instead of waiting for supervisors to
arrive at the scene. And in the Haggerty shooting, he said officers
committed several errors, including disobeying an order by a supervisor to
stop the car chase.

A copy of police radio transmissions in the Haggerty incident obtained by
the Tribune suggests that a sergeant believed his officers had obeyed his
orders and had stopped chasing the car. The sergeant expressed surprise when
he learned six minutes later that his officers had chased the car into a
neighboring police district and was involved in Haggerty's death.

On Thursday, Chicago police Supt. Terry Hillard was summoned to City Hall to
answer questions about the shootings at a meeting of the City Council's Fire
and Police Committee, while noisy protesters heckled him.

That night, demonstrators marched on police headquarters, and critics of the
department have gathered every day for more than a week outside Mayor
Richard M. Daley's office to protest the two shootings.

At the Friday protest, Steven Champ, 33, said he saw an officer with his arm
around Riley's neck and another with his knee in Riley's back.

He said after the officers restrained Riley he saw "blood on the street."
Police said the blood resulted from Riley biting his tongue.

Riley had prior convictions on drug and armed robbery charges, and had
served three separate prison terms, according to a police spokesman.

Joseph J. Cecala Jr., an attorney who is representing Riley's family, said
that they are "very, very upset at the circumstances surrounding Gregory
Riley's death."

Tyrone Young, 43, a relative who lived with Riley in the 7200 block of South
Maplewood Avenue, said Riley did not deserve to die at the hands of police.

"He didn't deserve what happened to him . . . They killed him," he said.