In Cabrini case, being there
is the problem

Web-posted: Friday, March 14, 1997

s storytellers are inclined to say: ''You had to be there.''

That's especially true when something like the recent near-riot at Cabrini-Green breaks out and you would like to know what actually happened to touch it off.

A cop says it was the fault of a mob that jumped him when he was trying to arrest a gangbanger on a drug charge. He says his gun went off while he was struggling to keep from being disarmed.

But Cabrini residents say no, he just fired into the crowd, wounding a young woman.

Stories of this kind always become murkier because they always seem to become instant socioeconomic studies, with the media telling us how the poverty of places like Cabrini-Green breed hopelessness and despair.

And all kinds of grievances and resentments are quickly heaped on the original incident, until it is almost forgotten.

At Cabrini-Green, many of the residents talked angrily about how the CHA cops push them around and don't show them respect.

One said the shooting wouldn't have happened in an all-white neighborhood, and that resident was right. It wouldn't have happened because in most white neighborhoods, if the cops busted a suspected drug dealer, the neighbors would have been cheering the cop, not jumping him.

But in this case, it's the cop who is in deep trouble, not the people who might have committed the serious criminal offenses of attacking him, interfering with an arrest, sniping and trying to incite a riot.

The cop has been charged with a Class X felony, which carries with it a potential prison sentence. His bond was unusually high for the circumstances -- $250,000. Accused murderers and stickup men walk with less of a financial guarantee that they'll show in court.

And, of course, lawsuits have been filed. Is this not America?

Two different lawyers filed two separate lawsuits on behalf of the wounded woman -- one in federal court, the other in the state courts. Each lawyer was said to be unaware that another lawyer was on the case. This shows that the poor and downtrodden don't have too much trouble finding zealous legal representation when there's a good chance that a case will result in a hefty cash award.

But the civil lawsuits tell us that someday we might find out how the whole fracas began. In a courtroom, testimony and depositions under oath will re-create the circumstances of the shooting.

Unless, of course, government lawyers decide that it would be cheaper just to offer a settlement to the woman and avoid the cost of a trial. Then we'll never really know what happened.

But even if there is a trial or trials -- it will be such a long time from now that the case will probably be forgotten and mostly ignored.

In the meantime, all there are are dribs and drabs, which might or might not tell us what really happened.

A drib or maybe a drab has been offered by Jesse Kirkendall, who is a CHA cop and a police union representative.

He was not -- repeat, not -- at the scene of the shooting. But he says he sat in on the questioning of officer Roland Pace, who had the bad luck to be in the center of the Cabrini fracas.

Kirkendall says the questioning brought out these alleged facts:

''The person being arrested (by Pace) is one of the main gang leaders of the Gangster Disciples on the West Side.

''The reason the building came down the way it did was because he is the No. 3 guy in the Gangster Disciple hierarchy. He was screaming: ''Raise up, folks.'' And yelling for people to do what they had to to get him out of custody.

''A group of men and women approached Pace. He wasn't seeking a confrontation. He was trying to explain why the man was being arrested. But the gangbangers in the crowd said: 'We aren't taking this from CHA police,' and they attacked him.

''They were hitting him on the head, and he was trying to protect himself. One man came up behind and tried to take his weapon away. They were fighting over it and then it went off. They were both holding on to it. The other man had his hand on the trigger and the officer said his hand was outside.

''Then other CHA officers came out and they pulled Pace away to safety. The (residents) came back to regroup and were going to attack again. Then some started sniping down from the building at the cops.

''When you try to take a gun from a police officer, the charge should be obstruction of justice and mob action. Those people only got charges for disorderly conduct.

''And no Chicago police officer would have been put under a $250,000 bond.

''When Pace was questioned by the detectives, he wasn't nervous and scared like he was lying. You can tell when people are lying, but he wasn't.''

True? False? Who knows for sure? You had to be there.

But one thing we do know for sure. The sooner they tear down Cabrini-Green, the better.

© 1996 Chicago Tribune